• Name of Scholarship: Jim Leech Mastercard Foundation Fellowship
• Category: For African Students
• Host: MasterCard Foundation, Canada
• Eligible Country: All African countries
• Reward: Full Sponsorship
• Deadline: November 30, 2021

The Jim Leech Mastercard Foundation Fellowship is designated for African students and current graduates. It is an opportunity for the youth to gain financial support and network; to ground an impactful startup in their careers.

The program enables its beneficiaries to become entrepreneurs who are resourceful, confident, and goal-driven. It sparks in them a desire to solve pressing needs in the society.

The Jim Leech Mastercard Foundation Fellowship is numbered among the groups with State-of-the-Art Training facilities.

The Business Bootcamp fronts leaders with solid experiences in entrepreneurship and C-Suite, delivered by Queen’s University faculty and industry 

The complex for training disciplined Entrepreneurs in the Institution was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and envisages a proven step-by-step framework for scalable startups

Candidates are assured to benefit from a world-class of coaching guidelines and mastery in their fields.

Certificates are awarded on 100% completion of the essential training modules of DDQIC’s entrepreneurship program

The program is slated into three online courses where the beneficiaries will learn the foundations of Entrepreneurship through virtual coaching, and developing their business idea. Also how to demonstrate commitment to advance to the next course.

Requirements for Eligibility

Applicants aspiring to become beneficiaries of the scholarship must have done the following:

• Have completed or applied for a Masters of Science (M.Sc) in Islamic Finance at the University of Dundee.
• Have accepted their offer of entry into the Postgraduate MSc Islamic Finance program, which was scheduled to have started within September 2020 or January 2021. (This can be based on a conditional or unconditional offer).
• Have been verified by the University of Dundee, to possess an International, Home/EU, or RUK fee status.
• Applicants who apply as refugees or seek asylum will be prioritized. Regardless, students who do not fall under this category are invited to apply.

Scholarship Duration and Reward

• Financial Support for 15 beneficiaries with a stipend of $500
• Opportunity to be funded in the Dunin-Deshpande Queen’s Innovation Centre seed funding competitions
• Mentorship training of the fellows, by industry leaders and entrepreneurs during the final phase of the program
• Feedback responses and review of performances after important startup milestones

Phases of the program

Phase 1: Explore – Scheduled to run from December 2021-February 2022

1000 witty candidates are to gain access to a tastefully selected list of online entrepreneurship courses and handle the first 11 steps of a Disciplined Entrepreneurship framework workbook.

Candidates are given several months to purport their commitment to the entrepreneurial process by accomplishing progressive milestones during the training course.

Phase 2: Ignite – February-April 2022

30 outstanding finalists evident to be committed to the entrepreneurship process, will be selected from the first phase. They must have produced excellent milestones to be selected to join this phase.

Here, the candidates will continue to go through another curated list of additional online entrepreneurship courses and work through the remaining parts of the Disciplined Entrepreneurship framework’s workbook. Participants will compete for the fellowship by pitching their ideas; the most promising and advanced business ideas will emerge as finalists who will receive the fellowship.

Phase 3: Jim Leech Mastercard Foundation Fellowship on Entrepreneurship – spans from May-August 2022

15 Fellows will be marked out to join DDQIC’s summer incubation program. Fellows are given the opportunity to work on their ideas, access the “Seed funding,” and engage in weekly three to one pitch presentations on the work they are doing and how they can transform their ideas into scalable startups.

Additionally, Fellows will be awarded a $500 stipend with dedicated coaches and mentors from DDQIC’s Global Network of entrepreneurs and experts in the industry.

Emergent entrepreneurs (Fellows) will complete their incubation program by the end of August 2022. On graduation, Fellows will thereafter continue to receive post-incubation services, supports, and pitch competition opportunities as participants of DDQIC’s network.

They will also be invited to participate as future ambassadors and mentors of the Jim Leech Mastercard Foundation Fellowships as well.

Method of Application

Interested candidates can indicate their interest in the program through this link