IFAD calls for Somalia Women’s Market Access Innovation Challenge 2025 proposals
Rome/Mogadishu, 2 July, 2025. Together with the government of Somalia, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) is launching the Somalia Women’s Market Access Innovation Challenge 2025, seeking proposals from women entrepreneurs across rural Somalia who want to grow their businesses by improving their market access.
Women in Somalia play a crucial role in agriculture, but in addition to obstacles facing all smallholder farmers like lack of infrastructure and financing, they face systemic and cultural challenges as well. Removing these obstacles to market access will enable them to thrive.
The Challenge is organized by Somalia’s Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (MoAI) through its Center for Innovation and Agropreneurship Development (CIAD), in collaboration with IFAD’s Rural Livelihoods Resilience Programme (RLRP) and the World Bank’s Somalia Food Systems Resilience Programme (S-FSRP).
This open innovation challenge calls for proposals from legally registered, rural women-led enterprises, as well as businesses with at least 30 per cent women in their leadership team. Interested applicants should have a scalable solution, as well as a validated technological prototype to address the problem they are proposing to solve. The proposal should seek to achieve one or more of the following outcomes: enhance women’s access to agricultural markets; improve the competitiveness of women-led agribusinesses; and establish sustainable market linkages through innovation and technology and promote financial inclusion.
The winners of the open innovation challenge will be selected through a competitive process. Selected entrepreneurs will receive tailored business coaching, seed funding for product development, support in market access, and networking opportunities.
Interested applicants must submit their proposal via the official portal at: 🔗 https://ciad.moa.gov.so/e/apply
The deadline for submission is 31 August 31 2025, at 5:00 PM Mogadishu time.
