Following Microsoft’s announcement to support 10,000 start-ups in Africa over the next five years, GreenHouse Capital announced that 13 start-ups across East & West Africa had been selected to participate in the Scaleup Accelerator Program.
These 13 companies feature six (6) Male and seven (7) Female founders strategically chosen to ensure that both genders are adequately represented.
Part of GreenHouse Capitals’ mission in Africa and other emerging markets is to support the vision of closing the gender financing gap through its accelerator programs and other tactics designed to help African women in tech come to the forefront of activities in the sector.
Oluwadunni Fanibe, Program Manager at GreenHouse Capital, says, “The gender funding gap in Africa is abysmal – this can partly be attributed to unspoken biases during recruitment and due diligence processes that favour male founders over female founders.”
“So, it was essential to me that that wasn’t the case here. I am immensely proud of the diversity of this program in terms of participants and facilitators and hope many others in the ecosystem follow suit and are more deliberate about their processes.”
Below are the founders and the startups selected to participate in the program:
• Ourpass (Samuel Eze)
• One Health (Adeola Alli)
• BuuPass (Sonia Kabra)
• GetEquity (Jude Dike)
• Gobeba (Lesley Mbogo, Peter NdianguI )
• Oystr (Ifedolapo Lawal)
• Afya Bora (Reginald Victor Runyoro)
• Chekkit (Dare Odumade)
• Zydii (Joyce Mbaya)
• Eight medical (Ibukun Tunde Oni)
• Herconomy (Ife Durosinmi-Etti)
• Pharmarun (Teniola Adedeji, Lola Aderemi)
• Mobiele (Ife Akintaju, Sayo Owolabi)
The program aims to provide pre-series A stage start-ups access to new markets, technology infrastructure, technical skills, and funding opportunities to scale their solutions.
This acceleration program will run for six (6) weeks and features a demo day session bringing global investors to meet the start-up founders.
The program will include 12 instructor-led sessions, ten (10) workshops and three (3) panel discussions. Each session is tailored to help the start-up’s scale raise subsequent funding rounds. Some of the program modules include:
• Strategy
• Fundraising for Growth stage Companies
• Market Expansion & Operations
• Culture & Employee Benefits
• PR & Communications
• Marketing & Growth
• Sales and Business Development
• Technical Workshops
About Microsoft
Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT” @microsoft) enables digital transformation for the era of an intelligent cloud and an intelligent edge. Its mission is to empower every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more. For more information, news and insights from Microsoft, please visit Microsoft’s News Centre Middle East & Africa.
The opportunity in Africa is immense, but there is a pressing need to adopt digital platforms to accelerate Africa’s economic growth and better enable Africans to participate in the global digital economy.
Through the Africa Transformation Office, Microsoft focuses on four essential development areas – digital infrastructure, skilling, SMEs and start-ups, supported by strategic partnerships with industry alliances and coalitions, to fuel investment in Africa and further establish the continent’s export of digital services.
About GreenHouse Capital
GreenHouse Capital (GHC), founded in 2014, is a leading African fintech investment fund and platform focused on supporting early-stage companies and world-class emerging market entrepreneurs building the next wave of innovative technology companies.
GHC is Africa’s largest fintech fund by portfolio size and has invested in leading companies like Flutterwave, Max, and Wallets. GHC believes in “founders backing founders” and is home to Africa’s leading accelerator programs for women-led and fintech start-ups.
GHC uses its experience, knowledge, and record of accomplishment to expand into emerging markets, including the Middle East. It will continue putting the entrepreneur first and empowering innovation while delivering returns. Visit www.greenhouse.capital to learn more.
Source: techcabal