Standard Chartered South Africa invests $50,000 into Female South African-owned businesses

Standard Chartered Bank South Africa has awarded USD50,000 to support the growth of female South African-owned businesses under its Women in Technology (WiT) programme, which launched earlier this year. The Women in Tech programme provided a platform for aspiring women entrepreneurs in South African STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Manufacturing) industries, developing their innovative tech-based business ideas and accelerating their growth. It will also offer a comprehensive range of resources, including mentorship, training, networking opportunities, access to funding, and a supportive community of like-minded individuals.

Five women entrepreneurs in the technology sector received $10,000 each to scale-up and grow their businesses. 

The businesses which won were:

• OURStudio (Pty) Ltd- Sanelisiwe Njobe (Founder)
• eFama App by Coronet – Pretty Kubyane (Founder)
• Sum1 Investments- Kurhula Baloyi (Founder)
• Findamentals – Danei Rall (Founder)
• Lawyered Up- Serisha Barrat (Founder)

The Standard Chartered Bank WiT programme received over 80 applications, 29 businesses were shortlisted, and 12 finalists selected to go into incubation. These short-listed businesses pitched their ideas to a panel today. With combined support from WomHub, the graduates will leave the programme with linkages and networks to grow and scale their business.

The WiT programme, which launched in July this year, was implemented in partnership with WomHub and provides business management training, mentoring and seed funding to female entrepreneurs who use technology to deliver business products and services.  It aligns with calls for more diversity in technology and for more opportunities for women to develop entrepreneurial and leadership expertise. It also aims to support the economic and social development of women in South Africa through innovation-driven entrepreneurship. Standard Chartered Women in Tech (WiT) supports female-led entrepreneurial teams with business management training, mentoring and seed funding. WiT was first launched in October 2014 by Standard Chartered Americas as a local community project. 

In 2022, the programme was active in nine markets. The start dates are shown in brackets for each market: Bahrain (2020), Ghana (2020), Kenya (2017), Korea (2020), Nigeria (2019), Pakistan (2019), UAE (2019), United States (2014) and Zambia (2020). Between 2019 and October 2021, the programme reached a total of 1,962 women and engaged 290 businesses. The programme provided over USD740,000 of funding to 152 start-ups to grow their business ideas.