Grace Ashiru
WomHub is an innovation, and women started coworking space in Cape Town. It is now available to the public. The space aims to give women entrepreneurs, freelancers, and professionals a workplace and a community to support them.
WomHub is a coworking space in the center of Cape Town. It is attractively designed and has everything you need to work, including high-speed internet, 3D printing and scanning services, conference rooms, and offices.
The facility is different because it was made for women by women, says co-founder Naadiya Moosajee. It contains a lactation lounge, a junior engineering hub where members can let their children play together while they work, and a wellness lounge.
The location also gives women entrepreneurs access to a network of specialists, mentors, and investors who can provide them with advice and help.
We have a wellness space where breastfeeding ladies can perform yoga, meditate, and pray. We also have something called the junior engineer hub. It’s a place where kids can play together and learn about STEM and tech while their parents work, Moosajee tells TechCabal in an interview.
Naadiya Moosajee and Hema Vallabh, who used to be engineers but are now businesswomen and investors, came up with the idea for WomHub because they saw how hard it is for women to succeed in business.
The founders think women may reach their full potential and make a difference in their industries with a supportive and welcoming atmosphere.
“We’re excited to open WomHub and give women a place to grow their businesses and hopefully make more money,” said Moosajee. “Our goal is to give women the tools they need to follow their dreams and be successful on their terms.”
Moosaje says that they aim to develop comparable facilities in Botswana and Kenya and maybe in other African countries in the future.
More than just a coworking space
We haven’t made a coworking space but a group of people working together. Hema Vallabh, one of the co-founders of WomHub, said, “We focus on women and want entrepreneurs to come into the space not only to work but also grow.”
One thing that makes WomHub stand out is that it helps women’s businesses in the neighborhood get finance.
We launched Five35 ventures, a $30 million venture capital fund that invests in tech startups run by women all over the African continent.
WomHub wants to help women throughout the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mining, and Manufacturing) value chain by giving them access to capital. For example, their WomHub programs aim to bring in more women and girls, and they also conduct incubators and accelerators and invest in female entrepreneurs.
“I think this is crucial because none matters until we can provide women the money they need to expand their businesses.
So, my business partner and I have been working hard to raise the venture capital fund so that we can start not just to give women the physical and metaphorical space they need to grow but also the money they need to do so.
Partech’s Africa 2022 Venture Capital research says that in 2022, female-founded startups will have raised 22% of all rounds, which is 2% more than in 2021. Also, they made up 13%, or $644 million, of the total equity capital, which is 3% less than in 2021.
There is a clear need to close the funding gap between men and women for tech startups on the continent. Over the next few years, initiatives like WomHub, which helps women in more ways than just mentoring by putting money in their pockets, will play a key role in closing the gap.
