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Standard Chartered Women in Technology Incubator programme (SC-WIT) has awarded GH¢57,000 each in seed funding to five women-led businesses to scale up their business operations. The incubator programme is run in Ghana by Standard Chartered Bank, in partnership with Ashesi University’s Ghana Climate Innovation Centre.
The event held digitally due to COVID restrictions rewarded the five start-ups who had emerged as the winners of a pitch event. The five were selected out of a shortlist of 14 start-ups that went through a four-month entrepreneurship skills training in the first phase of the programme.
Speaking at the ceremony, Alikem Adadevoh, Head, Legal, Standard Chartered Bank Ghana PLC said: “Our heartfelt congratulations to the five winners on their well-deserved success. As a bank, we believe that empowering women-owned businesses is crucial in driving Ghana’s economic development and accelerating progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
We are thrilled to be able to provide opportunities for women-led businesses to scale up and reach their entrepreneurial potential through our Women in Technology programme, and we look forward to seeing the amount of growth their businesses experience.”
In addition to the seed funding, the businesses will be receiving portfolio management support over the next 10 weeks, exposure to potential investors looking to support scaling women-led businesses and will also be joining the global SCWIT alumni network where they will have access to additional networking events, resources, content, and business scaling opportunities.
The five winners are:
- The Autism Ambassadors of Ghana: a social enterprise that brings professionals and volunteers together to create more awareness on Autism and helps to improve lives of children living with Autism through technology, using their Autism Aid App. Website: autismambassadors.org.gh
- Farmhub Limited: an emerging key player in the agricultural sector offering services to clients using technological innovation (mobile farm app). The company has farming and farm management expertise, providing agronomic, capacity building, and post-harvest loss management services to farmers, as well as linking farmers to market opportunities. Website: farmhub.com
- Pent Ranch: an enterprise formed by a group of friends passionate about the potential of Ghanaian agribusiness. Founded in 2019, the company has grown into a commercial-scale agribusiness with a present focus on egg production. Website: pentranch.com
- Sabon Sake: an agriculture company transforming the sector by locally providing regenerative soil products and services that restore soil to good health and empower growers – leveraging on innovative technology to foster a low-carbon economy and increase healthy food production. Website: sabonsake.com
- Simpliexpand: a creative agency that offers website design services with a focus on exceptional User Interface design and Data Analysis to help clients make real time market decisions. Their uniquely designed website portal gives clients access to broken down data to do so. Website: simpliexpand.com
Speaking after the competition, Ruka Sanusi, Executive Director, Ghana Climate Innovation Centre, Ashesi University, stated “We commend the award winners for their performance. One of the biggest challenges women entrepreneurs face when starting or growing their business is access to finance. We are pleased to partner with Standard Chartered for this programme to address and respond to one of the key structural challenges small and growing businesses face.”
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