Nigeria: UK-Nigeria Tech Hub and Google allocate $3 million to women founders of technology companies

Investments in the African technological space have recently increased. However, start-ups owned by founders were only able to obtain a tiny fraction of all funds.

UK-Nigeria Tech Hub, a British government initiative to support the growth of the Nigerian technology ecosystem, announced on Friday, March 24, 2023 its collaboration with Google for start-up Africa to support women founders of technology companies in Nigeria.

As part of this collaboration, the two entities will award $3 million in Google Cloud credits to start-ups owned by women. The objective is to subsidize the costs related to cloud technology for start-ups, allowing them to focus on innovation, customer acquisition and growth.

“This partnership testifies to our commitment to supporting women founders and helping them reach their full potential. Partnerships like this are one of the best ways for stakeholders to come together to advance Nigeria’s technology ecosystem at an accelerated pace, “said Justina Oha, National Director of the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub.

In Nigeria as in several African countries, investors are hesitant to finance women-owned companies. In a report, Maxime Bayen of Africa: The Big Deal revealed that in 2021, women founders had raised only 1.4% (compared to men founders who had received 87.5%) of the total funding that entered Nigeria. The rest, 11%, financed mixed teams.

The partnership between UK-Nigeria Tech Hub and Google for start-up Africa, like several other initiatives launched in Nigeria in recent years, aims to reduce this gap and strengthen the capacities of women entrepreneurs in the country.

According to Folarin Aiyegbusi, head of Google Africa’s start-up ecosystem, “the empowerment of women founders is essential to building a more diversified and inclusive technology industry“.