Chidi Koldsweat, working with social impact leaders to break poverty cycle
Chidi Koldsweat is the Founder, Lead Strategist, Donors for Africa Foundation (a grant management organisation) working actively with Governments, Funding Institutions, the Private Sector, Philanthropy Organisations, NGOS and Social Impact Leaders to break cycles of poverty.
This is achieved by strengthening the capacity of African social innovators, nonprofits, impact led businesses and social enterprises to access funds, achieve their vision towards the SDG’S and build sustainable organisations.
In this role, she has trained over 500+ nonprofits, raised over $750,000 in funding, reaches over 22,000 unique accounts weekly on her learning platform where she provides knowledge to her nonprofit community.
Donors for Africa Foundation
Donors for Africa Foundation is a grant management organisation working actively with governments, NGOS, social impact leaders, the private/ public sector, philanthropy organisations, and investors to break poverty cycles. Our vision is to provide long-lasting systematic solutions to the global development challenges facing Africa. Every week, we reach over 22,000 unique global development accounts, providing them with learning trending industry news, grant opportunities, and useful information to improve their competence to scale up their impact ‘glocally’
Digital Social Innovators Bootcamp in Africa
The digital Social Innovators is the first of its kind. In other programs, distance has been a barrier, age, and sometimes several years in operation. We saw these limitations and decided to change the narrative with a digital program. We utilised the power of the internet and several innovative platforms to connect participants from different parts of Nigeria to share, learn, and link, forging new partnerships and collaborations. The Donors for Africa digital Social Innovators Bootcamp is an annual leadership accelerator program targeted at equipping and developing third sector leaders’ technical expertise in Africa. Our focus is on this overlooked group that is solving some of the world’s biggest challenges in Africa with minimal resources and capacity.
The Impact
The impact of this program has been unrivaled. During the 3-month intensive and immersive learning, selected participants received training and support from local and international sector experts, peers, and leading development pioneers. Thirty finalists emerged who pitched their projects for the grand prize, and we recorded outstanding results. The winner of the pitch competition - Aisha Dirisu, founder Peniel Foundation, designed the first digital career platform for person’s living with disabilities, where she connects them to jobs and internship opportunities across Africa. Bukola Bamiduro, founder, Karis & Eleos Foundation who received over $300,000 from the Cocacola Foundation during the program - ‘’I came in as a novice and won a grant before the 12 weeks was over’’.
What Next? What is the future of the Social Innovators Bootcamp 2021?
In (2020-2021), we are scaling up to other parts of Africa, and we are incredibly excited. Our vision is to expand to all countries in Africa, finding and reaching more visionary African leaders who are transforming their communities with passion. Distance is not a barrier, and we will get as many people as possible.
We will coach, guide, and support these leaders, enabling them to accelerate their impact and collaborate with development advocates in other parts of Africa. We increase their visibility through our platforms so that together, we can secure the future we all want for Africa. We are grateful to our sponsors such as Businessday, Sterling Bank, MARITEAM, The Nest Hub, and several stakeholders, partners and this year; we hope to partner with more indigenous organisations to scale up our impact. We say thank you to our sponsors, facilitators, partners, and everyone who contributed to making our first cohort an immense success.