What is QBusiness Academy?
- QBusiness Academy is a 3-month early stage business development program for African LBTQ+ women and nonbinary business owners.
- This is an early stage business development program that is designed to provide business owners with an interactive experiential learning to help develop their businesses.
- The academy seeks to help African LBTQ+ women and nonbinary business owners to increase capital, gain fundraising knowledge and get access to network (build social capital).
What makes us unique?
- We are the first of a kind LBTQ+ women and nonbinary business community that has dared to challenge the status quo and shift power dynamics even within the broader African LGBTQIA+ business community.
- We’ve incubated 56 businesses and sourced funding for 12 confident LBTQ+ women and nonbinary business owners.
- We don’t work alone, we receive invaluable support and funding from Google.org.We’re also partnering with HYBR group, an organisation that scales African solutions. This learning journey is uniquely designed to set our founders up for success.
- We’re not just an incubation program, we give you the opportunity to raise funds live, using our digital fundraising platform.
We’ve crafted this program for you if…
- You’re an African LBTQ+ women or non-binary identifying business owner operating within the African continent.
- Your business is less than 3 years old or if you’ve been in business for a while and are looking to relaunch or pivot your venture.
- You’re looking to find ways to generate more revenue, build a community around your business and attract more customers.
- You’re driven to solve our economies most pressing problems.
The Q Networq is among 34 (out of 7800) incredible organisations selected to receive funding and other support from the #GoogleOrgImpactChallenge for Women and Girls by Google.
The QBusiness Academy Journey: What to expect
Phase 1 – Recruitment
A rigorous recruitment assessment will be conducted from September 5th to November 30th 2022. Set aside 30 minutes to complete The QBusiness Academy application. Applications will be reviewed as they are submitted. The sooner you apply, the sooner you will be notified and be able to secure one of the 50 limited spots in the cohort. The application phase will be open to 250 entrepreneurs and once the limit is reached the application process will close.
Phase 2 – Onboarding
All applicants will receive an email notifying them if they have been successfully admitted into The QBusiness Academy and onboarding will start. You’ll get an opportunity to meet and greet your fellow QBA members!
Phase 3 – The Q Business Academy
In January 2023 The QBusiness Academy will launch. You will participate in a 3-month program that will provide an immersive business development opportunity through coaching, mentorship and crowdfunding.
Phase 4 – Program Graduation
You did it! You completed one of the most intense Q Networq programs yet. Now it’s time to use your new knowledge, network, and know-how to take your startup to the next level. You will be inducted into The QBusiness Academy alumni community for life long support and partnership.
Phase 5 – Business Fundraising
There’s no better way to keep your business sustainable, in this phase you will create your own fundraising campaign on our QBusiness Fundraising platform to raise funds for your business.
Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
A 500 rand admin fee will be charged per business. Each participant has access to the program which is worth R150 000 per person. We expect entrepreneurs to show up and be committed to the program as much as we are as a team. All you need to do is show 100% commitment by being an active participant so that you can implement all your learnings to further grow your business.
The program runs for 3 months (January 2023 – March 2023) with a new module covered each week. The module’s topics are designed to help you practically implement some changes in how you run your business. Note that we do not transfer members to future cohorts.
The program will be run online, 80% online classes and 20% in-person event attendance (the in-person attendance is not compulsory). Entrepreneurs will attend classes twice a week.
We understand that things happen and scaling up a business doesn’t happen overnight. Having a tribe means that you’re not alone. We provide all the perks to help you scale your business, if you fall behind please partner with a fellow participant to catch up and try to stay up to date.
Informal businesses are welcome provided you have been in operation for 6months +.
Absolutely! We’ve helped mature businesses to scale further. Our toolkits help you relaunch or pivot your current venture.
Yes
Yes – each business will receive coaching sessions with renowned experts in the duration of the program. Do note that these sessions won’t be available post program.
We run as an incubator and each entrepreneur will receive a certificate of completion from The Q Networq and HYBRgroup.
We’re Jocelyn and Kebone
The co-founders of The Q Networq.
We built The Q Networq from the ground up with no big name, no partners or donors in sight. We only had our collective experience in entrepreneurship, education, retail and tech to rely on. Luckily, we met some incredible souls along the way that fiercely supported our mission and helped us build as a tribe. That kept us going when things got tough. Our hearts’ mission is to create an impact within our community and ensure that African queer women like us will always have opportunities to help them build thriving businesses.
We designed this program for you because we’ve either been where you are, solved the problems that you are currently experiencing or know people who understand where you’re going. We’re here to help you take your business from 0 to 1 and provide you with a supportive community beyond the 3-month program journey. Like we usually say, ‘it takes a tribe to build a tribe’ and in your case, a thriving business!
We’re excited to share this journey with you!
See you soon!