Call for Applications for Participation in the REDpreneur.UA Program

General Information

REDpreneur is the first-of-its-kind global innovation and acceleration program of the Austrian Red Cross to support the development of business skills and innovative impact driven enterprises in Red Cross Core Services. By offering a unique immersive learning experience, REDpreneur supports changemakers of the International Red Cross Red Crescent Movement, local Civil Society Organisations and impact driven startups in improving their business skills and developing social business models that prioritize transformative social and environmental impact while striving for financial sustainability.

In 2024, the Austrian Red Cross in partnership with the Ukrainian Red Cross Society launched the REDpreneur.UA, which is a two-year program supported by the Neighbor in Need. The overall aim of the REDpreneur.UA program is to improve the socio-economic resilience of people affected by the war in Ukraine and strengthen institutional capacities for economic recovery of women through increased innovation and social entrepreneurship development.

In the long run, REDpreneur.UA is to become a Business Incubation hub for social entrepreneurship and humanitarian innovation in Ukraine. The program will provide unique business support services, including training, coaching, mentoring and access to finance with grant funds.

As the first objective, the REDpreneur.UA Program aims at supporting and empowering URCS branches to deliver sustainable health, social, and humanitarian services to war-affected population in Ukraine. Through this program, REDpreneur.UA seeks to catalyze innovative ventures that address the critical needs of vulnerable communities and contribute to building resilience amidst ongoing challenges. The Program will provide financial grants to URCS branches to implement businesses ideas that tackle urgent needs of population while promoting financial sustainability of their organizations. Ventures should align with URCS’s humanitarian principles and focus areas, including but not limited to healthcare, psychosocial support, livelihoods, education, and disaster risk reduction.

Call for Applications

REDpreneur.UA is excited to announce an open Call for applications aimed at providing funding and coaching opportunities to branches of URCS. We invite all URCS branches interested in establishing social businesses to apply for support from REDpreneur.UA. The program aims to facilitate the provision of essential social, health, and protection services to those affected by war.

Through this program, we seek to support viable business ideas originating from URCS branches while also improving the quality of services rendered. Selected applicants will receive comprehensive coaching and mentoring support to assist them throughout the implementation phase. The grant aid provided will cover up to 100% of the total projected expenditure, with an average grant amount of 15,000 EUR in UAH equivalent. The minimum grant amount available is 10,000 EUR.

No co-financing from third parties is required. All expenditures which are related to business implementation are eligible for grant financing (including salaries, rent, and equipment). Not eligible are costs which have already incurred before the grant application and will incur later than 12 months after the funding, as well as return on capital; debt and debt service charges; provisions for losses or debts; interest owed; costs declared and covered by another grant.

We encourage all eligible URCS branches to seize this opportunity and submit their applications to REDpreneur.UA.

Conditions of Eligibility

The URCS branches are all eligible to submit ideas for consideration for grants. All submissions must be complete, follow stipulated guidelines and be received by established deadlines.

The following conditions of eligibility shall apply to all applicants:

The applicants are teams of employees of a regional or local URCS branch.

• All applicants have read this document and accepted without reserve the rules provided herein before submitting applications.
• Business ideas must have a positive impact in the thematic focus areas of URCS, including but not limited to healthcare, psychosocial support, livelihoods, education, and disaster risk reduction.
• The ideas and concepts presented in the application are original and came from the candidates and are clearly formulated.
• The applicants are fully responsible for ensuring no third parties own any intellectual property or other rights on the business idea which may prevent its implementation, otherwise, the candidates will be excluded from the Program immediately.
• The applicant agrees to sign a contract, communicate with the grant giver and that the REDpreneur.UA team will follow up and monitor the business implementation throughout the duration of the program.
• The applicant is committed to implementing the business idea, complying with the grant agreement within one year after the signing.
• The URCS team will be required to have a proper legal entity if they are selected to receive financial support.
• The applying team must consist of at least 2 people.
• If selected, applicants agree to participate in all mandatory components of the program, otherwise, they may be dismissed from the program.
•  The applicant must ensure transparency and reliability throughout the program.
• If found guilty of an offence concerning their professional conduct proven by any means, guilty of fraud, corruption, involvement in a criminal organization, money laundering or terrorist financing, child labor or other forms for trafficking in human beings, the applicant may be disqualified from the Program.

The call for proposals opens on 22nd of April 2024.

The call for proposals closes on 17th of May 2024 at 23:59 pm Kyiv time.

Selection Criteria and Feedback

Only full applications received by 17 May 2024 at 23:59 pm Kyiv time will be considered and reviewed by an international panel of experts. The review panel will be made up of people with knowledge in one or more of the seven thematic lots and will include experts internal and external to the URCS.

The financing decision will be communicated to all applicants by mid of June 2024.

Application will be reviewed and scored based on pre-defined selection criteria. The selection will be done based on the assessment of the following components:

Impact

• Addressing urgent needs within the community
• Positive impact on vulnerable groups
• Innovation within the URCS movement
• Expected number of people reached by the business
• Contribution to green recovery and environmental sustainability of the community
• Overall feasibility and long-term sustainability of the business idea and quality of the value proposition

Viability

• Potential for long-term operations and business growth
• Proven demand, market potential, and profitability of the business solution
• Amount of the overhead and the capital investment needed

People / Team

• Decision making and management as well as technical competences in the team
•  Availability and commitment of team members
• Support by partners and other stakeholders in the community
• Vision, motivation, quality of presentation

In case the business ideas have equal scoring, the priority will be given to teams with IDP, female and disabled members.

For a proposal to be eligible for funding consideration, following documents must be submitted:

Application form https://form.typeform.com/to/OTu9jBIY

Business plan – should include following points:

Executive Summary

1. Problem and Impact Opportunity
2. Solution/Value Proposition
3. Target Users and Customer Groups
4. Revenue and Funding Model
5. Competitive Landscape
6. Go-to-Market Strategy
7. Team and Partners
8. Key Financials
9. Investment Opportunity
10. Timeline: Traction, Achievements, Next Steps
11. Appendices

Financial plan (in UAH, outlining 4-year income statement, balance sheet and cash flow statement).

Video pitch including a presentation (max. 3 minutes, introducing the team, pointing out the challenge, explaining the solution and the financing need).

Letter of support by Oblast Branch Management.

Optionally: letter of support by partner organizations.

Growth and Development Phase

After receiving financial support, the URCS branches will get access to implementation support in the form of Coaching and Mentorship programs for another 6-12 months (depending on their stage of development).

The support will include mentorship on legal, accounting and marketing issues.

Continuous documentation and reporting on the progress as well as outcomes of the businesses will be required, as will be outlined in the grant agreement. With a focus on learnings – both positive and negative ones – the sharing of insights and experiences with the network is encouraged. A final evaluation will have to be conducted to measure the success of the businesses.

Feedback:

An information session, addressing all questions relevant to this call, will be held on April 29, 2024.

Please register your interest in participating in the session via this link.

Specific enquiries can be sent to t.kudak@redcross.org.ua and  redpreneur@redcross.at.