Today, we celebrate the amazing women who are driving innovation, entrepreneurship, and positive social change across Africa and we are proud to support them through our dedicated acceleration programme for women entrepreneurs and via our network of business incubators, where they can access capacity enhancing training, mentoring, and networking opportunities.
We believe that women’s empowerment is key to bring the African startup ecosystem to new levels and ensuring gender equality. That’s why we are committed to continuing our support to inspire inclusion and foster a diverse and inclusive innovation ecosystem in Africa.
Under the BIC Africa Acceleration programme for women entrepreneurs, we aim to help innovative women entrepreneurs with their entrepreneurial and business leadership skills to overcome the challenges they face by defying the odds. The programme also connects them with experienced startups and business experts and exposes them to a variety of perspectives on running and growing their business to refine their day-to-day business operation skills and unlock their business potential for scaling trajectory and fundraising for their startups.
The BIC Africa acceleration programme was a turning point for me. It wasn’t just about acquiring new skills or knowledge; it was about discovering my purpose and the power I held to make a positive impact. The programmer’s greatest strength lies in its human touch. From the moment I joined, I was met with warmth, encouragement, and genuine belief in my potential.
Eden Tadesse, Founder & CEO at Invicta, from Ethiopia
BIC Africa Acceleration programme 2023 participant
Since its inception in 2021 through three successful cohorts, we supported 62 innovative women entrepreneurs from the BIC Africa target countries (Angola, Comoros, Ethiopia, Madagascar, and Somalia) and others from Kenya, Nigeria, Malawi, Rwanda, South Africa and Zambia operating in various sectors and at different business stages. Many of these women entrepreneurs who completed the acceleration programme have been able to improve their business operations, helping them create new decent jobs and even secure funding right after completion of the programme.
I completed an online business accelerator training with BIC Africa Business Acceleration Programme 2022 representing Somalia. As a result, I am now equipped with the latest knowledge and tools to take my business to the next level.
Fatima M.Suleman, founder of Handmade with Asma from Somalia, BIC Africa Business Acceleration Programme 2022 participant
This training has provided me with a comprehensive understanding of various aspects of business management, including marketing, finance, and strategy development. The program’s modules were taught by seasoned industry professionals who shared practical insights and real-world examples that I can apply to my business. I am grateful for the opportunity to participate in this training program.”
We celebrate the amazing women entrepreneurs and their journey to scale their ventures and impact their communities with innovative and sustainable solutions. At BIC Africa, we acknowledge entrepreneurship as a powerful tool for empowering women, reducing the gender gap and boosting local economies. However, the journey of becoming an entrepreneur can be challenging. Therefore, supporting women entrepreneurs is very important.
The BIC Africa Acceleration Programme really helped me to properly structure my organisation’s projects in order of priority and high impact. I also gained accelerated knowledge and developed new skills on how to manage the organisation. The Programme also gave me a bigger picture on how to handle the organisation like factoring in my personal day to day spendings.
Christine Mhone, Founder and Managing Director of Caring Hands Centre Limited from Malawi
BIC Africa Business Acceleration Programme 2021 participant
The BIC Africa Acceleration Programme for Women Entrepreneurs is designed to boost the role of women entrepreneurs by supporting them in building and scaling their businesses to the next level by strengthening their operations, and we are very proud to provide selected women entrepreneurs with the necessary support to build and scale their business to the next level to quickly amplify their businesses’ growth and sustainability, and eventually support the achievement of the SDGs in Africa.
We celebrate this incredible achievement, and we will continue to work with these entrepreneurs and the experts towards helping women-owned or led businesses create more opportunities.
The Acceleration Programme is possible through a partnership between the European Union and EBN. Finally, we express our gratitude to those who were part of this journey, most importantly to the implementing partners, the coaches and the mentors from Africa and Europe for their relentless support to the entrepreneurs.
Check out the video that showcases the participants who joined BIC Africa’s entrepreneurship programme, which has provided them with the necessary support to scale their business operations.
We’re accepting applications for this year’s online acceleration programme for women entrepreneurs click here to learn more.