The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), through its Centre for Youth and Sports Development (CDJS/ECOWAS), is implementing the ECOWAS Youth and Women's Entrepreneurship Programme (EYWEP) with the technical and financial support of AUDA-NEPAD.
This program aims to promote the economic empowerment of young people through capacity building, technical support, mentoring, networking, access to business support services and the development of sustainable entrepreneurship in the community space.
As part of the pilot phase, ECOWAS is launching this call for projects to select young entrepreneurs aged 18 to 35 who already have an existing business or an operational entrepreneurial activity, and who need targeted support to properly start, consolidate, develop or continue their production.
The pilot phase covers the following seven countries:
* Benin
* Ivory Coast
* Gambia
* Ghana
* Guinea-Bissau
* Senegal
* Sierra Leone
This call for projects aims to identify and support young entrepreneurs already engaged in an economic activity or with an existing business, in order to strengthen their production, management, structuring and development capacity.
This call is open exclusively:
* young people aged 18 to 35;
* nationals or residents of one of the seven pilot countries;
* young people who already have an existing business, formal or informal, or an entrepreneurial activity already underway;
* start-ups, structuring or growth start-ups;
* young developers in need of support to strengthen, stabilize or develop their business.
At the end of the process, the best projects selected from each country will be able to benefit from grants, special prizes and a connection with financial and technical partners, according to the modalities set by ECOWAS.
First Place: $15,000.00
Second Place: $10,000.00
Third Place: $5,000.00
Special Award Best Regional Business Plan: $5,000.00
The application must include:
* an up-to-date Curriculum Vitae (CV);
* a copy of a valid identity document;
* a presentation note of the company or activity;
* a simplified business plan or a presentation of the business model;
* a projected financial plan;
* the company's legal documents, if applicable;
* any additional document useful for the assessment of the activity.
All documents must be consolidated into a single PDF file.
Complete applications must be sent to the email address corresponding to the candidate's country.
Subject of the email: "EYWEP Program Application - Existing Businesses"
Benin: benin.eywep@cdjscedeao.org
Ivory Coast: cotedivoire.eywep@cdjscedeao.org
Gambia: gambia.eywep@cdjscedeao.org
Ghana: ghana.eywep@cdjscedeao.org
Guinea-Bissau: guineabissau.eywep@cdjscedeao.org
Senegal: senegal.eywep@cdjscedeao.org
Sierra Leone: sierraleone.eywep@cdjscedeao.org
The deadline for applications is 16 July 2026 at 23:59 GMT
Participation in the program is free of charge.
For any further information, candidates can contact: cdjs@ecowas.int
