UN Women Care and Climate Entrepreneurship Accelerator 2025

Are you an enterprise providing care or climate solutions in the Asia-Pacific region? Apply now for the UN Women Care and Climate Entrepreneurship Accelerator 2025!

📖 About the Accelerator

Supported by the Visa Foundation, the UN Women Care and Climate Entrepreneurship Accelerator aims to support women-owned and women-benefitting enterprises operating in the care economy, the green economy, and their intersection in the Asia-Pacific region.

The accelerator will provide tailored support to selected enterprises across six key areas:

• Strategy
• Operations
• Inclusive Business Models
• Financial Readiness
• Networking
• Gender Responsiveness

🎯 Eligibility Criteria

To qualify for this opportunity, applicants must:

• Be an enterprise that is women-owned/led or has a gender-diverse founding team.
• Be a for-profit registered entity with operations in South Asia or Southeast Asia.
• Have been operational for at least two years, with an established product-market fit and generating revenues.

💡 Benefits of the Accelerator

Selected enterprises will receive gender-responsive support across six areas:

1. Strategy

   • Refine business models, increase revenue, expand customer base, and develop go-to-market strategies for new segments or geographies.

2. Operations

   • Optimize costs, improve business processes, and refine business offerings.

3. Inclusive Business Models

   • Develop gender-responsive and inclusive business strategies to improve access to markets and capital.

4. Financial Readiness

   • Identify capital needs, explore funding sources, develop fundraising materials (e.g., pitch decks, financial models), and pitch to regional and global investors.

5. Networking

   • Access industry leaders, funders, potential partners, and networks such as the Network of Inclusive Care Entrepreneurs (NICE). Participants will also have the opportunity to attend two in-person learning/networking events.

6. Gender Responsiveness

   • Understand how gender impacts various aspects of the business (e.g., workforce, supply chain, products, and services) and take steps to address potential inequalities.

Additional Benefit:

• Grants ranging from $5,000 to $100,000 are available for select enterprises.

📝 Participant Commitments

Selected participants must:

• Dedicate at least 2 hours per week during the 6-month high-touch support phase starting in September 2025, and 1 hour per week in the subsequent phase.
• Sign the Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs) and commit to mainstreaming gender in their businesses.

📅 Key Dates

• Date Published: August 18, 2025
• Application Deadline: August 31, 2025

🛠️ Application Process

1. Review all application questions and prepare your responses in advance.
   • You can download a copy of the application form here.
2. Submit your application through the official application form.

For more details, visit the UN Women Care and Climate Entrepreneurship Accelerator website.

🌟 Sponsor Organization

This opportunity is sponsored by UN Women.

Take advantage of this unique opportunity to grow your enterprise while making a positive impact on care and climate solutions in the Asia-Pacific region!

• Strategy: Targeted support to refine business model, increase revenue, expand customer base, and develop go-to market strategies for new segments or geographies
• Operations: Tailored support to refine business offering, optimize costs, and improve business processes
• Inclusive Business Models: Bespoke support towards gender-responsive and inclusive business development to enable improved access to markets and capital
• Financial Readiness: Support to identify capital needs, relevant types & sources of capital & potential investors/lenders, develop collaterals (pitch deck, financial model, etc.), set fundraising milestones, understand term sheets, & pitch to a curated group of regional & global investors
• Networking: Access to care and climate industry leaders, funders, potential partners and networks such as the 'Network of Inclusive Care Entrepreneurs (NICE) among others. Enterprises will be offered an opportunity to participate in two in-person learning/networking events.
• Gender Responsiveness: Opportunity to understand how gender impacts various aspects of the business, from the workforce and supply chain to products and services, and take steps to mitigate potential inequalities
• Grants ranging from $5,000 - $100,000 available for SELECT Enterprises