Entrepreneurship Camp 2024

Entrepreneurship Camp 2024

SUPPORTING YOUTH’S ECONOMIC INITIATIVES FOR A PROSPEROUS AFGHANISTAN

The Afghanistan Economic and Legal Studies Organization (AELSO), in collaboration with Khatam Al-Nabieen University, the Afghanistan Chamber of Commerce and Investment (ACCI), and other universities and partner organizations, is organizing the Entrepreneurship Camp-2024 in Kabul for the second time. The camp will bring together the young and female entrepreneurs from across Afghanistan.

The Entrepreneurship Camp aims to promote entrepreneurial thinking, economic development, job creation, and support for creativity and innovation to ending poverty in Afghanistan. Creative and innovative youth in Afghanistan will compete in three categories together.

In the first section, student teams representing universities that have a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with AELSO will compete, and the teams in this section will be introduced to the Entrepreneurship Camp by an official letter from the leadership of the collaborating universities. The winning team will earn the Entrepreneur University golden Award.

In the second section, graduates of universities and other Afghan youth will form their entrepreneurial teams freely and compete together to win the Young Entrepreneur golden Award.

In the third section, student teams from technical and vocational fields and young inventors from Afghanistan will compete together to win the Young Inventor golden Award.

At the end of these competitions, the winning teams of the golden Awards will receive financial and technical support from the Afghanistan Economic and Legal Studies Organization (AELSO), collaborating universities, and the private sector of the country.

Conditions for participation in the Entrepreneurship Camp:

1. Presence in one of the provinces of Afghanistan.
2. Currently enrolled students or graduates of universities.
3. Students or graduates of technical and vocational fields.
4. Young inventors.
5. Having a creative entrepreneurial plan.
6. Age between 18 and 35 years.

Entrepreneurship Team Conditions:

1. Having a new and innovative entrepreneurial plan.
2. Choosing a creative name for the team and title for the entrepreneurial plan.
3. Selecting four members for the team; only males or females are accepted, mixed-gender teams are not accepted.
4. All team members must reside in the same province.
5. Team members should not be from the same immediate family or first-degree relatives.
6. Selecting one individual as the team manager.

Entrepreneurship Plan Content:

1. Your entrepreneurial plan should address one of the social and economic challenges specific to your province.
2. Clearly define the primary objectives of the plan.
3. Identify potential outcomes of the plan.
4. Determine the capacity for job creation and employment generation through your plan.
5. Consider a maximum of one year for the implementation of the entrepreneurial plan.

Criteria for Selecting Top Teams:

Afghan youth from all 34 provinces of the country can register and compete in the entrepreneurship camp organized by the Afghanistan Economic and Legal Studies Organization (AELSO) based on the aforementioned conditions. Among all participating teams in this camp, three teams are selected as top teams through the following method:

1. Your plan will be put to a vote through the website of the Afghanistan Economic and Legal Studies Organization.
2. From the announcement of the program, each team until May 15, 2024, has the opportunity to campaign for their plan in their respective province and the location of their plan implementation.
3. Each collaborating university can introduce three teams to the entrepreneurship camp. However, based on the evaluation committee’s assessment, only one team from each collaborating university will participate in the final competition.
4. From among the teams in each province, only one team with the highest vote is invited to participate and compete in the final stage of the entrepreneurship camp in Kabul.
5. Two representatives from the top teams of each province present their entrepreneurial plan to the program judges at the entrepreneurship camp, and all travel expenses to Kabul are covered by the AELSO organization.
6. After a thorough and impartial evaluation by the program judges, three top teams are selected from among all participating teams in the AELSO entrepreneurship camp for financial and technical support following the camp and presentation of plans in person in Kabul at a grand event.
7. Top teams are selected based on 30% of the public vote and 70% of the judges’ vote in the entrepreneurship camp.

Financial Support for the Entrepreneurship Camp:

At the conclusion of the entrepreneurship camp, the top three teams are selected based on public votes and evaluations by the program judges and are provided with financial and technical support ranging from 50,000 to 300,000 Afghanis. All competitors and teams are required to prepare and present their plans and programs within the specified budget range. Plans exceeding this limit will not be considered.

Therefore, ensure that your plan can realistically be implemented with this amount of money. Judges will consider all aspects and public votes to select the three plans as the first, second, and third-place winners, with the highest amount awarded to the first-place winner in terms of financial support.

Conditions for Financial Support for Entrepreneurial Plans:

1. Advancement to the third stage of the AELSO entrepreneurship camp.
2. Ability to provide written guarantee for the implementation of the entrepreneurial plan.
3. Facilitating oversight by the AELSO executive team on the implementation of your entrepreneurial plan.
4. Monthly reporting on the progress and implementation of the entrepreneurial plan by the managers of the top entrepreneurial teams to the AELSO organization.
5. If, within one year after winning, the top entrepreneurial plans are not fully implemented, the support budget will be returned to the AELSO organization.
6. The responsibility for returning the full support budget to the AELSO organization lies with the team manager and guarantor.
7. Due to accurate reporting and ensuring the proper implementation of the plan, the money will be disbursed to the winners in installments based on the progress and execution of the operational plan.

Registration Process for the Entrepreneurship Camp:

To register for the entrepreneurship camp and compete with creative and innovative youth at the national level in Afghanistan, complete the following steps:

1. Download the entrepreneurship camp form in Dari from here and in Pashto from here, fill it out, and send it to the email address entrepreneurship@aelso.org.
2. Describe the details of your entrepreneurial plan, including the team’s name, objectives, location of plan implementation, its usefulness in solving a specific community problem, its effectiveness in reducing poverty, and how it will create jobs for at least 10 to 50 people within the next year, in a short video lasting 2-4 minutes.
3. When preparing the video, consider the following important points: team name, project title, brief introduction of team members including name, surname, and qualifications; location of plan implementation, how you will create employment for 10 to 50 people, duration of plan implementation, budget required for plan implementation, reasons for the stability of your plan and how you will continue your initiative to become a future source of income.
4. Send the video introducing your entrepreneurial plan, along with the team leader’s name and location of plan implementation, via Telegram to the number (0093744020502).
5. To join the entrepreneurship camp channel, click on the following link:

https://t.me/EntrepreneurshipCampAELSO

The deadline for registration and submission of the entrepreneurship plan video is May 15, 2024

Looking forward to seeing you at the Entrepreneurship Camp.

Publications and Relations Department of AELSO