Tech African Women (TAW), a program headed by BetaCube and backed by UNECA, has announced the commencement of its first Tech African Women program, which aims to develop a strong female-driven tech startup pipeline and ecosystem in Africa.
The program is currently accepting applications from female-led idea-stage startups originating from the countries of Ethiopia, Senegal, Tanzania, and Tunisia.
TAW is a program that has been launched to empower female founders to leverage their skills to build strong tech startups from the ground up, accelerate the transformation of project ideas into validated business models, and develop alliances between different African ecosystems. These are the goals of the program.
Read: Women in South Africa’s tech industry earn less pay than men – Women in Tech
Women in Tech Africa Program
During the course of the incubation program, the participants will have free access to a pool of tech developers and designers who will work to support and mentor their respective teams. This access will be provided for the duration of the program.
Along with taking part in personalized webinars offered by international trainers, participants will also have the chance to work closely with top experts in marketing and finance.
“TAW targets female-led & 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,” reads the announcement of the initiative’s launch.
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TAW Program Benefit
According to the program’s organiser, the program will run from August to December 2022 with three main phases.
In partnership with key players in the local ecosystem, intensive training boot camps and pitching competitions will be held over the course of three days in Tunisia, Senegal, Ethiopia, and Tanzania. A cash prize in the amount of $2,000 will be awarded to the winning team in each Bootcamp.
An online business incubation course of two months, open to the top two start-ups from each country, to bring them to an investment and market-ready state.
At the program’s conclusion, a ceremony will be held in Ethiopia’s capital city of Addis Ababa at the ECA Conference Center. At this event, eight different startups will compete for the program’s grand prize, which is a cash grant of $7,000 to be awarded to the business that proves to be the most successful. TAW is specifically geared toward female-led and idea-stage tech startups, and it provides teams with an exclusive opportunity to acquire new entrepreneurial skills, establish partnerships with their African peers, increase regional business visibility, and access funding.
It does this by developing the capacity of female entrepreneurs who want to understand how they can play a role in the development of the continent and who also want to deep dive into the process of building impact-driven startups. This helps to support ideas that address the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“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.”
Tech Africa Women Application
Participation in the program is restricted to women aged 18-35 who are citizens of Tunisia, Tanzania, Senegal, or Ethiopia and who have an idea for a tech startup that addresses at least one of the Sustainable Development Goals. They must also be fluent in French or English.
On the program’s official website, applications are currently being accepted from candidates residing in the four countries until the 10th of August 2022 for Tunisia and until the 17th of August 2022 in Ethiopia, Senegal, and Tanzania respectively.
What to Know About UNECA
The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) was established by The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations (UN) in 1958 as one of the UN’s five regional commissions. The ECA’s mission is to advance intra-regional integration, the economic and social development of its member states, and international cooperation for the development of Africa.
ECA is made up of 54 member states and plays a dual role as a regional arm of the UN and a key part of the African institutional landscape. This means that it is in a good position to help solve the development problems on the Continent in a unique way.
ECA’s strength comes from the fact that it is the only UN agency with the power to work at the regional and subregional levels to gather resources and put them to work on Africa’s priorities. ECA puts a lot of effort into collecting up-to-date and original regional statistics so that its policy research and advocacy can be based on clear, objective evidence. It also puts a lot of effort into promoting policy consensus, giving meaningful capacity building, and giving advice in key thematic fields.
About Betacube
Betacube is a Venture Building program that Wevioo and Amel Saidane established. The European Union and Expertise France are providing funding for the program.
Betacube was established in 2019 with the goal of creating an ecosystem for technological innovation in which Tunisian and international talent can connect with the rest of the world, create successful businesses, and lead the digital transformation of particular industries.
They make co-founding with Betacube easy and flexible for people in the Tunisian diaspora and other international talents.
Betacube Circle also has a strong network of advisors, experts, and corporate partners who work with them to develop new ideas.
