Western Union Foundation Fellowship Program
We are proud to support ambitious changemakers who dream of starting their own businesses and making a positive change in their communities. The Western Union Foundation Fellowship supports business and community leaders who have experienced displacement themselves, or are serving those that have been forcibly displaced with leadership training and seed funding to launch ventures that serve a social purpose.
We launched the Western Union Foundation Fellowship, powered by Watson Institute, in 2021 to provide entrepreneurs with business training and seed funding to launch their own community-focused ventures.
The 16-week program includes venture acceleration and leadership training, networking, and mentorship to help entrepreneurs launch and expand their ventures. The impact of the program is further amplified by Basecamps that each Fellow organizes to provide training and resources to community members. To date, the Western Union Foundation Fellowship and Basecamps have supported more than 2,200 individuals.
Ideal candidates for the Western Union Foundation Fellowship are entrepreneurs or community leaders from and working with highly marginalized, refugee, and forcibly displaced communities. Applicants from or are working in the following countries are given priority: Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, India, Japan, Lithuania, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Uganda, United Kingdom, and United States.
The Western Union Foundation Fellowship program is designed to complement entrepreneurs’ existing venture work, allowing them to implement learnings in real-time. Throughout Prosperity Beyond Borders, we plan to directly support 135 additional Fellows through this comprehensive program. Upon completion, these Fellows will then have the potential to reach 2,000 more aspiring entrepreneurs by leading Basecamps in their home communities.
About Basecamps: Basecamps are 12 + hours of intensive workshops designed to help rising entrepreneurs from each of the Western Union Foundation Fellows’ communities to ideate solutions, design business models, and compellingly communicate their businesses and organizations to an external audience.
