Impact Hub Yangon and Myanmar Japan Center have announced the launch of ACCESS 2024 (Accelerating Co-creation and Empowerment of Startup Solutions) to support Myanmar start-ups with funding and business acceleration training opportunities, according to an announcement.
The programme welcomes Myanmar startups to be awarded up to K20 million ($9,534) each in grant funding, including enrolment in a seven-day training course and 24 hours of mentoring sessions.
For this year, ACCESS 2024 is taking up to 10 finalist enterprises to be supported to deliver high-quality and affordable products and services as part of an effort to improve the livelihood of Myanmar amidst its socio-economic challenges.
The startups are encouraged to leverage innovative solutions and be part of the development of the startup ecosystem in Myanmar.
The programme’s first stage of screening will allow up to 25 applicants to enter the second stage — a virtual interview session and presentation — and later compete to be selected as finalists.
Startups focusing on the sectors of healthcare, education, agriculture, logistics, finance, power and energy are encouraged to apply by Sept 30, 2024. Online applications are welcome via this link: https://forms.gle/9VRU9Ahgm2ASJkt3A
The timeline to deliver the funding support is targeted to be in late February 2025.
The ACCESS programme is not new to Myanmar and back in 2021 the programme was led solely by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The “ACCESS 2021” programme saw five companies—Call Me Today, Future Glory, Linklusion, Myancare and Waso Full Moon—emerge as finalists, each receiving up to $100,000 of equity and debt-free funding over a 12-month period.
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