Grace Ashiru
When non-disclosed transactions were eliminated, African companies founded by women on the continent raised 203.2 million US dollars. This is 58% less than what businesses of this type mobilized in 2021.
This information, which covers fundraising transactions worth over USD 100,000, reported by The Big Deal.
According to the same report, this drop in performance for African start-ups run by women goes against the whole sector’s trend. Compared to 2021, when there were 141 of them, at least 129 could raise money.
“Even with the slight increase, the total final song deals for African start-ups over $100,000 reached a new record of at least USD 4.8 billion, which is about USD 200 million more than in 2021.
Even though venture capital on the continent has been relatively successful, it has helped less than 3% of start-ups with female founders and only 4% of female entrepreneurs, says the source.
The Big Deal’s research shows that there are still gaps between men and women in sub-Saharan Africa, which is in line with the fact that foreign venture capital firms aren’t very interested in women entrepreneurs in Africa.
And to add: “According to data from the World Bank, only 34% of businesses are started or run by women, compared to 66% by men in Nigeria, which is the country where most venture capital is used to fund new businesses.
In 2020, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) studied how African men and women have different ways of getting money. One argument was that the latter were given less money because they thought they were being left out and that their actions wouldn’t work.
