Investment
6 African Women CEOs Discuss How They Raised more than $1M in 2021 By Tage Kene-Okafor
Row 1 L-R: Jessica Anuna, CEO, Klasha; Honey Ogundeyi, CEO, Edukoya; Jihan Abass, CEO, Lami Row 2 L-R: Fara Ashiru Jituboh, CEO, Okra; Tebogo Mokwena, CEO, Akiba Digital; Nelly ChatueDiop, CEO, Ejara
WOMEN-FOUNDED COMPANIES in the U.S. raised more money from venture capitalists in 2021 than ever. Reports indicate they secured 83% more funding than the previous year, primarily attributed to the record-setting $329 billion U.S. startups raked last year. But according to data from PitchBook, less than 2% of VC funding went to all-women-founded teams in 2021. It’s identical to what’s happening in Africa: Less than 1% of all VC dollars went toward startups with one or more women founders last year, according to The Big Deal, which details investments in Africa. On the bright side, founding teams counting both women and men as members raised 17% of VC investments in Africa in 2021. 85
March-April 2022
These numbers are more frightening when retraced almost a decade back. According to Briter Bridges, another publication that tracks VC investments in Africa, only 3% of the total funding raised by startups in Africa since 2013 has gone to all-women co-founded teams. So despite total funding for women-founded companies reaching $834 million in 2021, per Partech Africa — a VC firm and data tracker of African investments — and the number of women in venture capital increasing, their representation remains minute against a faster-growing percentage of startups run by men. see page 86
DAWN
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