Standard Chartered Bank Ghana PLC has outdoor 20 female-owned businesses into Cohort 3 of the Standard Chartered Women in Technology (SCWIT) Incubator programme.
The women entrepreneurs will participate in a comprehensive nine-month incubator aimed to empower women-led start-ups and provide them with the necessary resources and support to thrive in the technology industry.
After a rigorous pitch process, five (5) outstanding participants will be awarded seed funding of $10,000 equivalent in Ghana cedis to invest into their businesses.
The SCWIT speaks to the Bank’s strategy of investing in female-owned businesses to bring greater prosperity and diversity to the communities in which they operate with emphasis on supporting innovation, infrastructure and technology. Through this initiative, women entrepreneurs have a platform to build capacity and realize their full potential in the world of business.
The programme is implemented in partnership with the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre, an Ashesi University business incubator.
Delivering the keynote address, Ms. Winifred Kotin, the CEO of Eagle Innovations shared her experiences as an entrepreneur, highlighting the journey she has made. “Successful entrepreneurs and enterprises are like the good foundation on which economies are built.” She advised the women entrepreneurs to have a clear vision, define their ideal businesses and customers as well as think of mitigation strategies for potential challenges. “Enjoy the journey to greatness and never stop innovating,” she added.
Welcoming the inductees, Kwame Asante, Head Transaction Banking, Standard Chartered Bank Ghana PLC, also highlighted both the economic and social benefits of the programme,
“We are committed to promoting economic and social development, doing so sustainably and equitably in line with our purpose, Driving commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity. The SC WIT incubator aims to empower women-led start-ups and provide them with the necessary resources and support to take their businesses to the next level.”
Kwame Asante
The Goal of the Programme
Women entrepreneurs in Ghana have the potential to make an enormous impact. The goal of the programme is to help them realize their vision, aligned with the country’s broader economic goals and Vision 2030. Collaborating with Standard Chartered to build the insights and skills and resilience needed by female entrepreneurs to thrive in the technology sector is a huge privilege and responsibility and ties into the core principles and mandate of the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre (GCIC).
“We are committed to building the tenets upon which women entrepreneurs can enjoy mindset optimization, vision clarity and tried and tested structure that aligns with the operations of their business and their overall personal aspirations.”
Kwame Asante
Launched in Ghana in 2020, the Women in Tech Incubator programme is specifically designed for women-led or women-owned businesses that are applying technological innovation to their operations, or women-owned tech start-ups.
With the SC Women in Tech Ghana Cohort 3 programme, upon completion of the training and workshops, the 20 shortlisted businesses will pitch their ideas/concepts and business plans to a panel of judges who will select the top five winners. They will each receive seed funding from Standard Chartered Bank Ghana PLC.
Additionally, these selected businesses will benefit from GCIC’s high-value Mini MBA and the Women Entrepreneurs Transformation Programs, as well as mentoring and access to a wider network of other companies for these entrepreneurs.
The program’s theme for this year is: ‘Advancing global trends in women-owned businesses,’ indicating that a high level of consideration will be given towards women-owned businesses that incorporate global trends including emerging technologies, sustainability and digital economy accelerants.
This is aligned to emerging global trends as well as local post-pandemic recovery efforts that have signalled that businesses will need to adopt these trends for sustainable growth.
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