Seven Kenyan women-led start-ups awarded Ksh. 9.8 million seed funding

Seven Kenyan women-led start-ups on Wednesday received seed funding of Ksh.1.4 million each at the sixth graduation ceremony of the Women in Tech incubator programme.

Held by the Standard Chartered Bank Kenya in collaboration with Strathmore University’s iBizAfrica incubation centre, this year’s program began in March and was themed 'Leveraging Technology for Impact.'

It comprised 15 women-led start-ups drawn from the agriculture, legal, education, and healthcare sectors.

Standard Chartered awarded a total of Ksh.9.8 million seed money to the seven ventures; Sign with Us, Instruct Africa, Saidiwa Rides, PanaCare, Imani Health, Know Learning Limited and Rhea Soil Health Management.  

“We have been able to catalyse growth through our latest cohort and are confident that the entrepreneurs who have gone through the programme will be better positioned to take up the opportunities across the various sectors that they serve,” said Kariuki Ngari, the Managing Director and CEO of Standard Chartered Kenya.

The Women in Tech incubator programme supports female-led businesses with an immersive learning experience, providing them access to mentorship and coaching services, seed financing and business-to-business linkages for high-potential start-ups.

According to a joint statement issued by Standard Chartered and iBizAfrica, the 15 ventures underwent a three-month incubation that covered modules such as business plan ideation, strategy formulation, Internet of Things (IoT), marketing, big data, and artificial intelligence (AI).

Since 2017, the Women in Tech program has trained more than 64 women-led businesses and 32 have been awarded over Ksh.1.2 million (USD 10,000) each in seed funding.

Data by Oxfam on SMEs in Kenya shows that 31.4% of local SMEs are female-owned, significantly lower than the total number in Africa – which stands at 58% according to the World Bank.

Limited access to finance, exclusion from crucial networks, as well as social and legal constraints influenced by societal norms, are some of the challenges that hinder female-led ventures’ progress compared to their male counterparts.