U.S. Mission to Spain Public Diplomacy Section: Grant for Empowering Women Entrepreneurs in Spain

The Public Diplomacy Section of the U.S. Embassy in Madrid and U.S. Consulate General in Barcelona (known collectively as the “U.S. Mission to Spain) are pleased to announce that limited funding is available to support activities that promote U.S.-Spain economic bilateral relations in the following priority area: Empowering Women Entrepreneurs  

The Public Diplomacy Section requests proposals for projects aimed at promoting entrepreneurship by empowering women entrepreneurs in Spain. This project proposal will be framed under the Mission’s “Jump StartUp” initiative, which builds support for entrepreneurship and innovation as a means to encourage economic growth. A “Jump StartUp Women” module will provide skills and resources to women entrepreneurs with startups and scale-ups in Spain to help them grow their businesses, access and interact with the U.S. entrepreneurial ecosystem, and seek investment in the United States.  Special attention will be paid to proposals that include businesses working in biotech, health, clean technologies, information and communications technology (ICT) industries, artificial intelligence, and “Internet of Things” fields.  

While a wide range of project proposals will be considered, successful projects will incorporate many of the following elements: 

• A clearly defined project objective, with specific supporting goals and quantifiable project milestones. 
• Project must benefit at least 30 female entrepreneurs who are the founder/co-founders of a startup/company created in the last 5 years across Spain. 
• A focus on entrepreneurship/accelerator programming that complements, rather than duplicates, programs already active in Spain.  
• The creation, strengthening, or expansion of a women’s entrepreneurship network that encourages and facilitates the transfer of skills and sharing of resources between members. 
• A mentorship program that aims to accelerate initial success by pairing them with related, successful businesses and specialized accelerator programs in the United States in an organized and sustainable fashion. 
• Provide advanced master classes, access to peer-to-peer mentorship, connect them with U.S. innovation hubs, high-level mentoring, and networking opportunities within Spain and the United States. 
• An innovative approach that highlights American expertise or U.S.-Spain partnerships and creates/strengthens networks between Americans and Spaniards. 
• A sustainable strategic plan to provide program participants with knowledge or skills of lasting value and application beyond the term of the project.