Fifteen women-led startups have been selected for a $175,000 (Sh24.5 million) 12 weeks of business incubation training under the Women in Tech (WiT) project.
The initiative by Standard Chartered Kenya in partnership with iBiz Africa Strathmore University, seeks to support female-led entrepreneurial teams with business management training, mentoring and seed funding.
Now in the sixth cohort, the 15 teams were selected from a pool of over 250 startups that applied for the programme from different sectors, such as agritech, fintech, healthcare industry, mobility tech, disability tech and the construction industry.
They include Acre-insights, Agri-tech Analytics, Ecorich Solutions, Ento farm, Imani Health Wallet, Instruct Africa and Know Learning Limited.
Others include MyAfya Africa, Panacare, Rhea Soil Health Management, Saidiwa (squad) Rides, Sign with us, Sol Active, Techtenum minds and Tynka Global.
According to iLab Africa director Joseph Sevilla, this was an increase from the previous cohorts, where 10 businesses were incubated and five startups per cohort that each received funding.
This incubation is set to culminate in seven out of the 15 women-led businesses being selected from a pitching contest to receive $10,000 (Sh1.4 million) each in seed funding to grow their businesses.
Sevilla said the WiT programme was designed to bridge the finance and capacity building gap that women entrepreneurs face today.
He further noted that the number of beneficiaries increasing to 15 meant that they could reach more women and still individually mentor, support and coach them throughout the incubation and post incubation.
“As I congratulate the beneficiaries, I wish to encourage them to take advantage of this programme as it will equip them with the necessary coping mechanisms and professional skills through training, mentorship and financial literacy. This will resultantly contribute to their survival and success in their different spaces,” he said.
He added that over the next three months, they will train the women on how to pitch their business ideas, how to protect their IP rights, how to get legal support, how to make a business plan, as well as gain and expand their market reach.
“After the seven have been announced, we will continue offering support that is less intense as compared to the three months one. Over the years, we have managed to support and create a community of women in tech who are also in businesses where they get a chance to better grow them,” Sevilla said.
Standard Chartered regional head for community impact and engagement Regina Mukiri said this sixth incubation programme saw a $25,000 (Sh3.5 million) increase in facilitation to $175,000 (Sh24.5 million) from the previous cohorts which cost them $150,000 (Sh21 million).
She also said when talking about social inequality, some of the biggest challenges experienced by women is the lack of social networks, access to funding as well as failure to attract investments from banks and foreign sources.
“We are here to help them grow from pre-commercial businesses to commercial ones. Our plan is to focus on women and girls in small and micro businesses as well as people with disability,” she said.
“It is amazing what these women are able to do. We are very specific on women-led enterprises because one of our agenda is to lift participation of women.”
“We understand the role that tech plays in pivoting businesses and the world as we can see it is digitising everyday and there are numerous opportunities for women to thrive in. We believe that working with women impacts the society and the economy at large,” she added.
Mukiri also noted that they have set up a catalyst fund that can be accessed by any alumni from previous cohorts of up to about $75,000.
The shortlisting criteria for the programme required the selected teams to demonstrate capacity in execution, showcase potential to solve socio- economic challenges in Kenya, have a balanced skill set (team lead, business development, product development and marketing), while ensuring they leverage technology.
MyAfya founder and CEO Nancy Kihara, who is also one of the beneficiaries, said her selection made her feel exhilarated.
“I am happy that I got selected this time round and I finally have an opportunity to be incubated and mentored. This will help put my ideas together so that I can have the transformation that I have always been looking for in order to deliver the social impact we have always wanted to have,” she said.
Noting that this was her second time applying for the programme, Kihara said she expects to come out sharpened.
“When I first applied in 2022, my business was pretty new. I made it to the top 50 but didn’t make it to the final team,” she said.
“I made a follow up from the feedback I got when I first applied to find out where I went wrong. Those are the areas where I worked on and when I applied the second time, here I am,” she said.
MyAfya is a mental health company that has a web platform where people can take up personalised care.
This is through the provision of group and individual therapy sessions and mental health storytelling platforms.
Now one and a half years old, Kihara said, the startup gives people a chance to come forward and share their experiences in order to get holistic care.
“Our adversaries are substance abuse, weight and burden of life and the hard economic times as well as the stigma around sharing personal experiences,” she said.
“We offer safe spaces where people come to share their experiences and we are currently heavily investing in mental health storytelling. These safe spaces allow people to come out and we equally reach out to guide them as well as link them to therapy so that they can realise that they are not alone.”
Kihara also said if they make it to the top seven, she plans to use the money to do talent acquisition, enhance their technology and invest in the safe space.
Since its inception, 50 start-ups have participated to date and 25 have been awarded over Sh1.2 million ($ 10,000) in seed funding.
Some 50 businesses have so far gone through the incubation process with the first five cohorts attracting over 2,000 applications.