Applications for Standard Chartered Bank’s Women In Tech Accelerator 3rd Cohort Open
Standard Chartered Bank Kenya has opened applications for its Women In Tech Incubator third cohort. The application which will close on 31st November is open for women-led startups leveraging technology.
Standard Chartered Bank will identify ten startups through a rigorous process who will go through a 12-week incubation period with the top five finalists benefiting from a seed funding of KES 1,000,000 each.
The Women In Tech Incubator programme was launched in 2017 partnership with Strathmore University’s iLab Africa. It has so far supported over 20 women-owned small enterprises through mentorship and providing seed funding.
“To date, from cohort one, 4 out of 5 of the companies have received investor funding ranging from USD 50,000 – 150,000, and their businesses have grown revenue and sales in double digits. In addition to growing their businesses, some of the companies have been able to form strategic partnerships with multinationals like MasterCard and Uber,” Standard Chartered Kenya CEO Kariuki Ngari said.
The Bank says it has set aside Sh20 million for capacity building for women-owned small enterprises leveraging on technology.
The Standard Chartered Women in Technology Incubator Kenya is Africa’s leading women in tech incubator, aligning with calls for more diversity in technology and for more opportunities for women to develop entrepreneurial and leadership excellence.
The program combines world class startup support with local and international experience to provide Africa’s most competitive and attractive startup incubation program focusing on immersive learning, mentorship, building and growing Africa’s next iconic startups taking on the continent’s most relevant challenges and opportunities.
After a successful rollout of a similar initiative in USA and Kenya, the bank has now rolled out the program in Pakistan, UAE and Nigeria with plans to expand to more countries across Africa and the Middle East.
The Bank first launched the programme to support women in technology in 2014 at the City College of New York where it created the Women Entrepreneurs Resource Centre.
The US program includes a dedicated workspace, mentorship, coursework and access to an extensive network designed to support entrepreneurs navigating the challenges of starting a business.
Applications for the programme can be done here.
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