If you’re reading this today, you are probably aware that the yearly commemoration of women popularly called International Women’s Day was celebrated just a few days ago. From the #breakthebias challenge that made the rounds on social media, inspirational stories of women’s achievements to beautiful expressions of appreciation to women of all ages, shades, and beliefs, March 8 was certainly a special time to be a woman.
In my recent analysis of the 2021 African tech funding landscape, I left something out. What I did not include in that piece was how female founders fared compared to their male counterparts. It was a deliberate move on my part as it allows me the opportunity to magnify the funding disparity as well as the bias confronting female founders and its impact on entrepreneurship in Africa. In the spirit of the International Women’s Day celebration, that is what I aim to do in this piece. Lastly, I will recommend action points that stakeholders- founders, investors, government – can explore to break the bias for women entrepreneurs in Africa.
Literature abounds on the scarce availability of funding and financing options for women entrepreneurs in Africa. The amount of funding raised by women-led startups is hardly commensurate with the total funding raised by startups on the continent. The narrative that the funding landscape is disproportionately tilted to favour male-led startups or those with at least one man on the founding team still holds true.
