ADDIS ABABA, Aug. 5 (Xinhua) -- The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) has announced the launch of its first Tech African Women (TAW) program, inviting women-led idea-stage startups from Ethiopia, Senegal, Tanzania and Tunisia to submit their applications.
TAW's main objective is the empowerment of women founders by leveraging their skills in order to build strong tech startups from scratch, accelerate the transformation of project ideas into validated business models and develop alliances between different African ecosystems, the UNECA said in a statement issued Thursday.
The UNECA in partnership with Betacube, a tech venture builder that invests, builds and grows B2B-based startups in fintech and mobility, launched the TAW scheme which runs from August to December 2022 with three main phases.
The phases include intensive three-day training boot camps and pitching competitions to be held in Tunisia, Senegal, Ethiopia and Tanzania in partnership with local ecosystem players with the winner receiving a prize of 2,000 U.S. dollars.
The scheme will also run a two-month online incubation program for the best two startups from each country that will allow them to reach market and investment readiness and a final event in Rwanda where eight startups will be invited to pitch to win the final prize of the program.
The winner of the best startup will be awarded 7,000 U.S. dollars.
"TAW targets female-led and idea-stage tech startups and offers teams an exclusive opportunity to acquire new entrepreneurial skills, establish partnership with their African peers, increase regional business visibility and access funds," the UNECA said.
It said the initiative 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.
