Event Details
VITAL VOICES GROW FELLOWSHIP
AN ACCELERATOR FOR WOMEN-OWNED BUSINESSES IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE EXXONMOBIL FOUNDATION
WHY DID WE CREATE THE VV GROW FELLOWSHIP?
There are an estimated 12 million women owned small-and medium-businesses around the world, 7 million of which are in developing countries. These businesses and the women who lead them have the potential to be a powerful force for building prosperity through inclusive economic growth and job creation. While the potential for economic contributions are significant, women business owners face challenges in accessing the support services they need to grow, including networks, training, financing and markets. With generous support from the ExxonMobil Foundation, Vital Voices created the VV GROW Fellowship, the only accelerator of its kind to partner with women business leaders to address their key obstacles to growth and enhance their leadership impact.
WHAT IS THE VV GROW FELLOWSHIP?
The VV GROW Fellowship is a highly competitive one-year accelerator program for women owners of small and medium businesses in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa, and sub-Saharan Africa. The program includes customized business skills training, technical assistance, leadership development, and access to networks to grow their businesses and increase their leadership impact. Through global and regional online and in-person trainings, fellows focus on strategy and long-term business value paired with action-oriented plans. They amplify their role as leaders in their businesses and their communities to create jobs, stimulate long-term economic growth and produce wider social benefits.
WHO PARTICIPATES IN THE VV GROW FELLOWSHIP?
The VV GROW Fellowship works with women that have owned and operated their businesses for at least three years, employ a minimum of three full-time employees, generate an annual revenue of no less than $40,000, have demonstrated leadership within their community and have authority to make critical decisions within their businesses. Fellows are driven to build skills and make changes to grow their businesses. They are also committed to “paying forward” the investment Vital Voices makes in them through a variety of means, such as through taking their knowledge, skills and expertise and sharing it with others, increasing the number and influence of women role models in their businesses and communities.
WHAT DO VV GROW FELLOWS SAY?
“[The] VV GROW Fellowship…is such a brillant undertaking. [The] opportunity to learn, keep up to date with information, technology, best practice[s], and most of all to network and realize that as women entrepreneurs there is only ONE of us here. Our challenges are the same, our passion is unstoppable and our desire to pay it forward unsurpassed."
- THECLA DETERVILLE 2013-
2014 VV GROW FELLOW
“My experience with VV GROW…helped me build leadership skills which I am using to help other women, especially in my country…This means improving their standards of living.”
- JOY LWANGA
2013-2014 VV GROW FELLOW
KEY RESULTS TO DATE
BUSINESS + LEADERSHIP GROWTH
GROWTH IN SALES + JOB CREATION
65% of fellows experienced positive growth in yearly sales during the fellowship period. Fellows also saw a 9% growth in the number of full time and part time employees.
MULTIPLIER EFFECT
Through pay it forward activities, fellows trained 965 people and mentored 718 people, taking the investment made in them and multiplying it across their communities, further increasing their leadership impact.
NETWORKING FOR BUSINESS GROWTH
Business networks can be instrumental in achieving growth goals. 97% of fellows made connections with business owners, technical experts and others that they believed were going to be useful in growing their business.
MULTIPLIER EFFECT
Through pay it forward activities, fellows trained 965 people and mentored 718 people, taking the investment made in them and multiplying it across their communities, further increasing their leadership impact.
IMPROVED BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
99% of the fellows made changes to improve productivity in their business, such as implementing a strategic growth plan, developing or modifying a product, improving financial record keeping, marketing and communications, and improving costing or pricing processes.
ABOUT OUR PARTNERS
The VV GROW Fellowship would not be possible without the generous support of our global, regional and local partners. For the past 10 years Vital Voices has been supporting the growth and leadership development of women business owners throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East and North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa in partnership with the founding global partner of the VV GROW Fellowship, the ExxonMobil Foundation. JW Marriott Hotels & Resorts generously serves as the global hotel partner for the VV GROW Fellowship, expanding upon a history of strong support for women’s economic empowerment and leadership.
ABOUT VITAL VOICES GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP
Vital Voices Global Partnership invests in women leaders who improve the world. Founder by former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, and guided by the belief that women are essential to progress in their communities, we partner with leaders from more than 140 countries who advance economic opportunity, increase political and public leadership, and end violence against women. Our programs in strategic planning, business, advocacy and communications build critical skills needed for creating transformational change at scale. Through our global platform, women leaders expand their connections and visibility, accelerating shared progress for all.
CONTACT US
To learn more about the VV GROW Fellowship, please contact info@vitalvoices.org with the subject line “VV GROW Fellowship.” Please also visit our website at www.vitalvoices.org.
Click here to view Recruitment toolkit.
Click here to view Recruitment toolkit FAQs.
Click Here to View VV GROW Fellowship Content and Structure.
