The STAND Up! project has extended until next 29^th of March 2022 the deadline for the ‘Call for Access to Finance’ applications, an opportunity that will be delivered to sustainable ventures in the textile and clothing sector to get knowledge on financial literacy skills and how to raise funding opportunities.

The new date for joining the call for proposals will apply in four of the five countries involved, with the exception of Lebanon. The reason for this decision, taken in full agreement by the whole partnership, is to allow potential young entrepreneurs from Italy, Spain, Tunisia and Egypt more time to evaluate the opportunity offered and prepare the necessary materials and information for participation.

The ‘Call for Access to Finance’ will select a minimum of 50 entrepreneurs with a target of at least 10 entrepreneurs per country. The selected entrepreneurs will participate in a 10-days-long online training that will focus on building the financial projections of the start-ups, identifying the sources of revenues and setting the cost and pricing strategy and giving tools to entrepreneurs to build financial forecast based on assumptions.

The training program, will be also followed by two pitching events organized by each country to provide investment feedback to the entrepreneurs and to receive local and regional exposure with potential investors. in order to get the chance to secure investments and potential funding opportunities.

The two events will be organized from July until September 2022. The application forms must be filled in through The Switchers.org platform, a free-to-use tool that entrepreneurs have used along the capacity building program. Applicants must register in the platform in order to be able to apply!

The call is open for textile and fashion start-ups that meets the following criteria:

• Early-stage/Growth-stage start-ups in the textile and clothing industry
• Venture with a potential scalability, innovative and economically viable
• Venture with a prototype or product/service ready in the market
• Venture with an environmental and social impact
• Venture with a unique value proposition and sustainable business model with clear revenue streams

In the selection process, priority will be given to start-ups led by women of all ages and by young people under 35. At least 50% of each selected participants should have participated in the capacity building phase and incubation phase.

NEW Deadline to submit applications in Egypt: 15th of April 2022 at 23.59pm CET

Link below to apply for the access to finance call, according to your country:

Egypt - SEKEM Development Foundation

http://bit.ly/Access2FinanceEgypt CALL CLOSED

Italy - Prato Textile Museum Foundation

https://www.museodeltessuto.it/news/avviso-standup-bandi/  CALL CLOSED

Spain – TEXFOR, Textile Industry Confederation                                                                                            

https://www.texfor.es/es/stand-up-abre-la-convocatoria-acceso-a-financiacion-para-emprendedores-textiles/  CALL CLOSED

Tunisia - CETTEX Textile Technical Centre and CITET Tunis International Centre for Environmental Technologies  

http://citet.nat.tn/Portail/doc/AGENDA/396  CALL CLOSED

Lebanon - Berytech Foundation    CALL CLOSED