Source: Emeka Ajene/Afridigest
Businesses founded by women ultimately deliver higher revenue than those founded by men… In terms of how effectively companies turn a dollar of investment into a dollar of revenue, startups founded and co-founded by women are significantly better financial investments. For every dollar of funding, these startups generated 78 cents, while male-founded startups generated less than half that—just 31 cents.❞
— BCG, ‘Why women-owned startups are a better bet.’
Despite the emerging body of research from BCG, McKinsey, First Round Capital, and others finding that companies with gender diverse leadership teams generally outperform their peers, business ecosystems worldwide continue to struggle with various gender-related issues, including gender gaps in financing entrepreneurs.
Across Africa’s tech ecosystem specifically:
- Less than a third of VC-funded startups have women founders/co-founders,
- Less than a fifth of venture-backed startup CEOs in the ecosystem are women, and
- The vast majority (~85%) of venture capital funding goes to founding teams composed solely of men.
Across the continent, women who are both founders and chief executives of tech startups that have raised significant amounts of capital are exceedingly rare.
Here’s a list of twenty-seven women who have raised $3 million or more in equity and are both CEOs and founders of tech startups focused on or heavily supported by teams in Africa, listed in order of their country of operations.
Source: Emeka Ajene/Afridigest
