Succeeding as an entrepreneur takes everything you’ve got. We’re here to help! As exchange alumni, you can access the many resources the U.S. government has created to support entrepreneurship and take your business idea to the next level.
From Alumni TIES grants to our annual Alumni Engagement Innovation Fund (AEIF) competition, we foster business development and training for entrepreneurs and innovators.
Entrepreneurship Resources and Opportunities
Welcome to Meet Farid, a new series of animated entrepreneurship videos! Want to start your own business, but don’t know how to start? Then this series of quick videos in Egyptian, created by three alumni from the Meet Silicon Valley exchange program in collaboration with the U.S. Embassy Cairo, is for you!
These videos are available for free to the general public via the U.S. Embassy Cairo's Facebook page.
Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES)
Startup Smart: A Handbook for Entrepreneurs
Calculate Your Startup Costs
Calculate Your Startup Costs will help you answer: How much money will it take to start your small business? Calculate the startup costs for your small business so you can request funding, attract investors, and estimate when you’ll turn a profit.
Content:
DreamBuilder
GIST Network
GIST Innovation Hub
Women’s Entrepreneurship Fund
Partnering to Accelerate Entrepreneurship (PACE)
USAID More than Money Report
Minority Business Development Administration (MBDA)
USPTO Inventors Assistance Center
Power Africa
Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (OIE)
U.S. Embassies and Consulates
YALI & YLAI Online Youth Networks
export.gov - Take Your Business Global
Developed by international trade experts and economists, Export.gov provides trusted market intelligence, practical advice and business tools to help U.S. companies expand in global markets.
U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF)
For Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) Alumni
The U.S. African Development Foundation (USADF) supports and invests in AWE entrepreneurs by responding to the need to further small enterprise development in underserved communities, especially as they relate to women-owned and managed enterprises in Africa. ECA and USADF’s partnership advances W-GDP efforts through a joint-U.S. government partnership to support the most promising AWE alumnae with catalytic funding for their enterprises. Through 2025, USADF will provide up to $10 million in grants to the most promising African AWE graduates in Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE)
The Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) gives enterprising women the knowledge, networks and access they need to launch and scale successful businesses. By promoting women’s economic opportunities and ensuring that women have the capabilities and resources needed to participate in the economy, the AWE program directly supports the U.S. National Strategy on Gender Equity and Equality. At a local level, AWE harnesses the power of public-private sponsors, local partnerships and U.S. Exchange Alumni networks to help women and their businesses grow, driving localized prosperity in communities in more than 80 countries worldwide.
As we celebrate Space Diplomacy Week April 30 - May 6, 2023, we talk to Thalia Patrinos, an ExchangeAlumni using art, science, and space to connect to millions of people.
Alumni Entrepreneurs
Learn more about and get inspired by exchange alumni stories.