The Ethiopia-based Tech African Women (TAW) programme has launched in a bid to provide support and acceleration to women-owned African tech startups, taking businesses from idea stage to operational.
TAW is spearheaded by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), in partnership with Betacube, and invites female-led idea stage startups from Ethiopia, Senegal, Tanzania and Tunisia to submit their applications to join.
The programme’s objective is to “empower” female founders to leverage their skills in order to build strong tech startups, accelerate project ideas into validated business models, and develop alliances between different African ecosystems.
Entrants will have access to a pool of tech developers and designers who will work to support and mentor their teams, as well as experts in marketing and finance. The programme will run from August to December, and will include training bootcamps and pitching competitions, and a a two-month online incubation programme for the best two startups from each country.
It will conclude with a final ceremony to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia at the ECA Conference Centre where eight finalist startups will be invited to pitch to win the final prize, a US$7,000 cash grant.
“TAW targets female-led and idea-stage tech startups and offers these startup teams an exclusive opportunity to acquire new entrepreneurial skills, establish partnerships with their African peers, increase regional business visibility, and access funds,” organisers said.
“It supports ideas addressing Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by developing the capacity of female entrepreneurs who desire to understand how to play a role in the continent’s development and want to deep dive into building impact-driven startups.”
Applications are open here until August 17.
