It’s long been said that the person who stops studying merely because they have finished school is forever hopelessly doomed to mediocrity, no matter what may be their calling. The way of success is the way of continuous pursuit of knowledge. Therefore, in the morning of a Sunday August 2022 within the serenity and ambience of my hotel room near Petite Barrière in Gisenyi, Rwanda, I made an application for the Circular Economy Catalyst (CEC) Workshop. I was in a two-week visit to Rwanda, sub-contracted by IPaid to coordinate a Study that was sponsored by Trade Mark East Africa (TMEA) on the “Interlinkage between Unpaid Care Work and Gender Based Violence and Its Implication for Women’s Participation in Cross Border Trade.”
The application process was a thought-provoking session that required a combination of analytical and critical thinking skills, so much that it took me the better part of the morning to finish and submit. Before then, I had only scratched the surface on Circular Economy Taxonomy. Therefore, it was herculean task diving deeper to come up with a concept during the application. What kept me going was W. H. Murray’s famous quote, ‘whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.’ Whereas I had planned with my tour guide to visit that day some of Rwandan cultural and tourist attraction sites like Bisoke Hills Volcanoes Nature Park, Congo Nile Trail, Kigali Genocide Memorial, Lake Kivu, Iby’inglu Cultural Village, and Nyungwe Forest National Park, she gave up on me when it was apparent that I was not leaving my hotel room until I completed the application. I had to do a solo tour in the afternoon, and due to time constraint, I limited my excursions to Lake Kivu, Grande Barrière, and Kigali Genocide Memorial .
In September 2022, I received good news that my efforts had paid off, my start-up Urban Organic Farming - Caryle Enterprises was selected to participate in the Circular Economy Catalyst Workshop! The Starter workshop took place in October 2022 and subsequently, the Refine workshop in November 2022, both at City Blue Creekside Hotel & Suites, Mombasa. The CEC workshop was supported by IKEA Foundation, and implemented by adelphi, in collaboration with SEED. Approximately 20 Start-ups in various stages of applying circular economy principles: to eliminate waste and pollution; to circulate products and materials (at their highest value); and to regenerate nature (ibid), participated in the CEC workshop, each composed of a team of 3-4 members.
Knowledge acquired from the CEC workshop was only potential power then. I think that the CEC Organisations knew that the collection of knowledge, training, and education from this workshop, by itself was useless and expensive if we didn’t specifically and deliberately apply what we had learned. Therefore, a closed Call for CEC Starter Grant Application was opened in December 2022 strictly for the CEC workshop participants to help us turn our business ideas into reality. Then, knowledge became absolute power.
The good news in March 2023 that my application had won the CEC Starter Grant, followed by disbursement of the funds to our bank account in April 2023, proved that knowledge has no value except that which can be gained from its application toward some worthy end. Attending the CEC workshop and subsequently submitting a winning CEC Grant application was the worthy end. Even though there was no stiff competition due to the fact that the Grant application was not opened to the public, not every Start-up who applied for the CEC Starter Grant was awarded.
Most Grantors rarely fund start-ups at ideation stage. Because having an idea for a business is just a “sparkle” that takes little time and requires almost zero effort. The actual execution of that idea is what really matters. It was therefore refreshing that the CEC organisers took a leap of faith to award Urban Organic Farming - Caryle Enterprises the Grant as seed capital towards establishing a demo farm and fruits/medicinal tree seedling nursery, as well as to construct a composting facility for recycling food waste into organic manure, and in the process, enabling us to adopt sustainable economic models that prevent global environmental degradation. Afterall, ideas with much less merit have been the seedlings from which great fortunes have grown.
I won this Grant because I formulated my responses according to the questions and items requested, and demonstrated a more significant effort in producing the application, as a result, I had a better chance of being selected. Here are the reasons why I scored better in the Grantor’s evaluation:
√ I carefully read through the application form and accompanying instructions and understood the purpose of each section and the information I was required to provide.
√ I collected all necessary documents and information before I started filling out the form. This included developing a bankable Business Plan and partnering with a local Agronomist to prepare a quotation for establishing the demo farm.
√ I Provided accurate and up-to-date contact information for myself and my Start-up.
√ I wrote a concise and compelling summary of my project and highlighted the key points on the problem, solution, goals, and anticipated outcomes.
√ I explicitly provided requisite information on: key results; resilience strengthening; strategic outlook; financial sustainability; expected social & environmental impact; and CEC workshop experience.
√ I filled out the budget section accurately, detailing all expenses associated with the project, and provided explanations for each budget item, demonstrating how the funds would be used effectively.
√ I emphasized my Start-up’s expertise and capacity to successfully carry out the proposed project.
√ In the end, I reviewed my responses for accuracy, clarity, and grammar and ensured that my answers were concise and aligned with the application's word/character limits.
√ I submitted the application form before the deadline, following the specified submission instructions. I double-checked that I had included all required attachments and documents.√ Finally, I made note about the confirmation of receipt that I received after submission.
Remember, the goal of writing and submitting a Grant Proposal that Wins is to present a clear and compelling case for your project. Next time you are submitting a grant proposal, be thorough, organized, and attentive to detail in your responses. Tailor your answers to showcase how your project aligns with the grantor's mission and priorities, and how it will create a positive impact.
#grants #grantwriting #grantfunding #circulareconomy #cec #urbanfarming #organic #organicfarming #environnement #environmental #environmentalsustainability #climatechange
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