Over the past five years, the number of start-ups founded and run by women has increased significantly in Africa. But, many problems still hinder the growth of those businesses. Various initiatives are being created by development partners to deal with those problems.  

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and Venture Building's Betacube program launched an incubation program, Tech African Women (TAW), yesterday (July 28). The program is focused on women-led technology start-ups still in the idea stage. Its first edition will target Ethiopia, Senegal, Tanzania, and Tunisia.

TAW aims to empower female tech innovators, leverage their skills to build strong tech companies from scratch, accelerate the transformation of their project ideas into validated business models, and develop alliances between different African ecosystems.

Applications are open until August 10, 2022, for Tunisia, and August 17, 2022, for Ethiopia, Senegal, and Tanzania at the official address www.techafricanwomen.com. To participate in TAW, applicants must be aged between 18 and 35 and be fluent in English or French.

Tech entrepreneurs selected for the program will take part in a 3-day intensive training and pitch competition organized in partnership with actors from each of their various local tech ecosystems.  The winning team from each camp will receive a US$2,000 cash prize. 

The top 2 startups from each country will then take part in a 2-month online incubation program to be prepared to enter the market and attract investments. 

Later, in December, the top eight startups will take part in a pitching competition to select the best startup, which will win a cash grant of US$7,000.