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The Jim Leech Mastercard Foundation Fellowship on Entrepreneurship (JL MCF) is for African students and recent graduates who want to solve pressing problems and bring entrepreneurial ideas to life.

The Dunin-Deshpande ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ Innovation Centre organizes a final pitch competition every year to allow the top fellows of the program the opportunity to advance their early stage venture through funding and mentorship. Competitors will go through a series of rounds and receive coaching from the DDQIC team and members of the global network to improve their final pitch and receive non dilutive seed funding to further progress their venture.

In 2025, over 1000 fellows were accepted into the 1st phase of the program, around 300 made it to the 2nd phase and 80 made it to the 3rd and final launch phase. After 8 months of rigorous training, mentorship and customer validation, the top 15 fellows of the final launch phase will compete in this final pitch competition for a prize pool of $20,000 CAD seed funding!

The pitch competition will occur virtually, and we will host watch parties to watch the livestream at ÃÛÌÒ´«Ã½ in Kingston, Canada, and in several African countries and institutions, including Uganda, Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, South Africa, and more!