2025 Academy for Women Entrepreneurs | PD SEOUL FY24 05

Opportunity Information: Apply for PD SEOUL FY24 05

The 2025 Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) grant opportunity is a U.S. Embassy Seoul public diplomacy program designed to support and expand women-led entrepreneurship in South Korea, with an added emphasis on helping participants strengthen their readiness to engage with or enter the U.S. market. AWE is a U.S. Department of State initiative that operates globally, and this Korea-based round represents the second cohort following an inaugural program in 2024. The program’s purpose is to equip women entrepreneurs with practical business skills, stronger networks, and structured learning that can help them build, manage, and scale their businesses. It also aligns with broader U.S.-ROK priorities highlighted during the 2023 U.S.-ROK State Visit, where women’s entrepreneurship and economic participation were emphasized as strategic areas of cooperation.

Funding is offered through a cooperative agreement, meaning the selected organization will not only implement the project but will also work closely with U.S. Embassy Seoul throughout design and delivery. The total funding available is up to $75,000, with the expectation of making one award, and the notice notes that final awards are subject to availability of funds. The grant falls under CFDA 19.040 (Public Diplomacy Programs) and is categorized as a discretionary opportunity. The funding opportunity number is PD-SEOUL-FY24-05. The application deadline listed is August 12 (noted as 11:59 p.m. GMT+9), and submissions must be sent by email to SeoulPDGrants@state.gov. Applicants are encouraged, but not required, to use the provided proposal and budget templates.

At the center of the project is delivery of a pre-made AWE curriculum that blends online learning with in-person engagement. The training content covers core entrepreneurial competencies such as entrepreneurship fundamentals, business planning, marketing, financial management, and pitching. A key element is that the grantee organization will first receive an AWE training session to become familiar with the curriculum and expectations before working directly with participants. The program structure is designed to be hands-on and applied, with the goal that participants can adapt what they learn to their current businesses rather than treating the material as purely academic.

The grantee’s responsibilities are organized around several concrete outputs. First is recruitment: in close coordination with U.S. Embassy Seoul, the selected organization will recruit 25 women entrepreneurs who have been running their businesses since inception. Participant selection criteria are not fully pre-set in the notice; instead, they are to be developed collaboratively between the embassy and the grantee, which suggests the applicant should be prepared to propose clear, fair, and mission-aligned selection standards and an outreach plan that can reach qualified entrepreneurs.

Second is training delivery: the initial phase uses Thunderbird School of Global Management’s three-month online program known as the “100 Million Learners Program.” During this period, the grantee is expected to actively manage participant engagement through regular check-ins, helping ensure that participants complete the online components and stay on pace. The online training is reinforced through monthly in-person meetings where participants can discuss course material, share challenges, and focus on practical ways to apply lessons to their own ventures in the Korean market context.

Third is networking and community-building: the grantee will organize networking activities that connect participants with one another and with broader networks of Korean and American business leaders. U.S. Embassy Seoul will also support this goal by inviting participants to relevant embassy programs and events when appropriate. A notable feature is the encouragement to integrate the inaugural 2024 AWE cohort and their mentors into networking activities where possible, building continuity between cohorts and creating a deeper mentoring and peer-learning ecosystem rather than a one-off training experience.

The program culminates in a graduation ceremony in Fall 2025, positioned as a capstone event that recognizes completion and helps participants showcase progress. In addition, select high-performing participants may be invited to participate in SelectUSA in 2025 and/or become mentees in the SelectUSA Global Women in Tech program. While these opportunities are not guaranteed for all participants, they function as aspirational pathways and incentives, and they reinforce the program’s emphasis on international exposure, investor and partner readiness, and potential U.S. market connections.

Monitoring and evaluation is built into implementation expectations. The grantee must run ongoing surveys to measure participant experience and outcomes before and after the program, focusing on how relevant and useful the content is to their businesses and capturing participant reflections on training quality and applicability. This implies that a competitive proposal should describe not just survey distribution but also how findings will be analyzed and used to improve delivery, document impact, and report outcomes.

Eligible applicants include registered not-for-profit organizations (including think tanks and NGOs with relevant programming experience), non-profit or governmental educational institutions, and Foreign Public Entities such as public international organizations and governmental institutions. The eligibility list in the source data also references nonprofit categories that may include organizations with or without U.S. 501(c)(3) status, depending on organizational structure, though the primary emphasis is on mission-aligned entities capable of delivering training, convening networks, and coordinating closely with the embassy. Overall, the opportunity is best suited for organizations that can recruit and support entrepreneurs, manage blended learning programs, organize high-value networking with credible business communities, and run basic but consistent evaluation to show results.

• The U.S. Mission to South Korea in the other sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "2025 Academy for Women Entrepreneurs" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 19.040.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-07-09.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-08-12. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $75,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Others.

Apply for PD SEOUL FY24 05

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