The Nike Foundation and the Unreasonable Group have teamed up to launch the world’s first business accelerator dedicated solely to benefiting girls in poverty.
Dubbed the “Girl Effect Accelerator,” the campaign is designed to bring social entrepreneurs together with business mentors to empower girls in some of the world’s most poverty-stricken countries to improve their own circumstances.
The undertaking’s first intensive two-week mentorship program was staged last November with 10 select ventures invited to team up with mentors such as writer Seth Godin.
Selected enterprises were also given access to strategic financing and a global network of support. The accelerator’s aim is to rapidly increase the impacts these entrepreneurial ventures have on girls living in poverty.
Companies included in the inaugural Girl Effect Accelerator operate in more than 30 countries worldwide, averaged more than $2.2 million in revenue last year and are in a position to impact more than 10 million girls across the globe.
They represent such industries as education, fuel and energy, personal hygiene and healthcare, among others.
What is the Girl Effect?
An estimated 250 million adolescent girls live in poverty. The accelerator’s founders call these girls, “the most powerful force for change on the planet.”
With that in mind, the Girl Effect initiative was launched. It is a movement spearheaded by the Nike Foundation in collaboration with the NoVo Foundation and the United Nations Foundation and Coalition for Adolescent girls.
The idea behind the initiative, which ultimately gave birth to the business accelerator, is to leverage the potential of girls living in poverty to enable them to change their own circumstances.
By including girls in education, health and economic investments, the chance to prevent issues such as child marriage, teen pregnancy and disease becomes a real possibility, enabling the potential to break the cycle of poverty.
Nike points out that in India alone, adolescent pregnancy results in a loss of nearly $10 billion in potential income annually. In Uganda, some 85% of girls leave school early, which results in $10 billion in lost earnings potential.
By raising awareness about these issues and investing in measures that address them, girls in poverty can enhance their own income potential while also helping their families, communities and countries, the initiative asserts.
The Accelerator Experiment
The Girl Effect Accelerator is still in its infancy. This venture is supported by the Unreasonable Group, an entity that encompasses a portfolio of startup companies, funds and experiments.
“We are launching the Girl Effect Accelerator as a real-world experiment to better understand the impact that entrepreneurs, investors, and business can bring to girls in poverty,” the accelerator’s website explains. “But we recognize this is a first-of-its-kind venture – and as such is an experiment.”
The venture aims to meet four main objectives:
- Increase investment in solutions that benefit girls in poverty
- Accelerate the growth of entrepreneurial solutions already in the market
- Inspire conversation about how investment, business and entrepreneurial solutions can help unleash the Girl Effect
- Witness short- and long-term measurable impacts on girls in poverty
Since the Girl Effect Accelerator is experimental, it is unclear when and if another round of ventures will be selected for participation.
