Standard Chartered Bank (Nigeria) Limited has launched the fourth edition of its SC Women in Technology Incubator, to support and promote the economic and social development of women in Nigeria through innovation or technology-led entrepreneurship.
The Standard Chartered Women in Tech program targets female-led entrepreneurial teams and provide them with training, mentorship, and seed funding.
In this edition, 11 young businesswomen will go through a rigorous 12-week executive boot camp during which they would they will interact with industry experts, business development coaches, and executives from Standard Chartered.
At the end of the training period, 5 winners with the most compelling ideas will be chosen and each winner will be awarded up to USD10,000 to invest in their business.
Dayo Aderugbo, Head Corporate Affairs, Brand and Marketing, Nigeria, Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited said, “We are pleased the fourth edition of the Nigeria SC Women in Tech Incubator is live today. We are optimistic about the impact this programme will have on the socio-economic empowerment of women entrepreneurs in Nigeria.”
“The support the beneficiaries will get will go a long way in ensuring the
sustainability of the businesses while creating employment for more women and youths in the country. We are excited about the endless growth opportunities and ripple effect impact this growth will have on the economy.”Aderugbo said.
He added that this initiative builds on the Bank’s track record of increasing
women’s access to entrepreneurial finance, and employability, and supporting adolescent girls and women through financing and capacity building.
However, this follows the successful completion of the last three editions which have seen 15 winners emerge to date collectively receiving over USD 150,000 in seed funding for their businesses.
Through this initiative, the Bank continues to focus on capacity building for women-owned small enterprises and sees this as a great opportunity to support greater diversity in gender representation within technology entrepreneurship for women in the country.
Following the successful launch of the program in Nigeria in 2019, the Women in Tech program has rolled out in other markets including Bahrain, Ghana, Zambia, and more recently Saudi Arabia. Other markets also running incubators include Kenya and UAE.
The Bank first launched the program to support women in technology in 2014 at the City College of New York, USA where it created the Women Entrepreneurs Resource Centre.
The US program includes a dedicated workspace, mentorship, coursework, and access to an extensive network designed to support entrepreneurs navigating the challenges of starting a business.
