How To Apply For $50 Million Mastercard Scholarships Fund In USA For Rural Areas Which Ends On 10th August 2017

 mastercard Foundation scholarship 2018 - mcfscholarshipupdates

                                       

            The Mastercard Foundation Scholarship(MCFSP) Program has mapped out the sum of $50 Million United States Dollars to fund scholarships targeted for rural development in Africa and other developing nations in the world.It it geared towards rural organisations that are willing to present new ideas to help in expansion of African rural geographical areas. Application has commenced and students are invited to apply immediately!

When Is The Application Deadline ?: Application closes on 10th August 2017

Which Countries Are Eligible ?: Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Djibouti, DRC, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda, Zambia.

What Is The Value of The Award ?: Applications made to the 2017 Rolling Competition should be for support of between US$250,000 and US$2,500,000. 

Number of Awards Available : It is expected that at least one million smallholder farmers, their families, and/or other poor people in rural households will be able to utilize the products and services developed and/or taken to scale.

through the Fund’s activities.

How Can I Apply ?: Follow this link  APPLY NOW

Visit the Program Webpage for Details

Who Is Sponsoring This Award ?: MasterCard Foundation

Eligibility: The MasterCard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity will only support ideas from institutions looking to deliver a financial service, product or process to smallholder farmers in an eligible African country (see list of countries above).

Projects may be proposed by a single institution or by a partnership of two or more (which could include a non-governmental organization); however, the lead applicant must be a for-profit entity.

Firms that apply should have an established and verifiable institutional track record. The Fund will only consider start-ups in exceptional circumstances where there is strong evidence that the new company has credible and experienced investors and management team.

Firms that apply should have transparent ownership and governance structures.

Examples of institutions that are eligible include:

• Banks;
• Non-bank financial institutions such as insurance or leasing companies;
• Agribusinesses that provide a financial service or that partner with a financial institution to deliver a financial service to their supply chain;
• Firms that use mobile or IT technology to support the delivery of financial services to rural poor people; and
• Firms that provide a non-financial service designed to facilitate increased access to financial services for financially excluded rural poor people. These firms may apply on their own as a lead applicant or may apply in partnership with a financial institution or agribusiness.

Please note that this list is not exhaustive. We are looking for applications from institutions that have a financial service offering.

Selection Criteria: Eligible projects under The MasterCard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity are required to meet the following criteria:

• The proposal must be for a project within an institution.
• Projects may be proposed by a single institution or by a partnership of two or more of them (which could include a non-governmental organization); however, the lead applicant must be a for-profit entity.
• Projects for the 2017 Rolling Competition must take place in one of the countries listed as eligible.
• Projects must demonstrate the potential to increase the provision of financial services to smallholder farmers in eligible countries.

About the Award: The MasterCard Foundation Fund for Rural Prosperity is a US$50 million challenge fund to extend financial services to people living in poverty.

We will be looking for innovation in all applications, be they for new ideas or ideas that are ready for scaling.  When considering your ideas, you should address the following questions:

• What is the potential for the proposed idea to change access to financial services for smallholder farmers in Africa?
• What is innovative about your proposed idea? For example, is it new to the financial services sector, new to the country, new to the continent? Perhaps it is even a first in the world? Is there a significant process improvement that changes the way you deliver a service or product?
• To what extent does the proposed project reach financially underserved markets?

Other participating institutions for the scholarship are;-

1.African Leadership Academy
2.African Institute For Mathematical Sciences
3.American University of Beirut-Faculty of Health Sciences
4.Ashesi University
5.Arizona State University
6.BRAC
7.Camfed
8.Carnegie Mellon University-Rwanda
9.Duke University
10.Earth University
11.Equity Group Foundation Wings To Fly
12.FAWE
13.KNUST
14.Makerere University
15.MCGill University
16.Michigan State University
17.Stanford University
18.University of British Columbia
19.University of California,Berkeley
20.University of Cape Town
21.University of Edinburgh
22.University of Pretoria
23.University of Toronto
24.Wellesley College