Standard Chartered Women in Tech Cohort 3 // Apply By 14th January

About the program

The Standard Chartered Women in Technology Incubator is Africa’s leading incubator programme for female-led and founded businesses.

It aligns with calls for more diversity in technology, and entrepreneurship and for more opportunities for women to develop entrepreneurial and leadership excellence.

This speaks to the bank’s Sustainability and Community Engagement strategy and focuses on supporting innovation, infrastructure and technology.

This programme is an initiative of Standard Chartered Bank Zambia in partnership with BongoHive, following the successful implementation of the Women in Tech programme in Kenya, Nigeria and Bahrain to mention a few.

The key objective of the incubator programme is to help Zambian women entrepreneurs or business owners who want to or are using digital technology to grow their businesses but lack the necessary support.

The programme is designed to provide targeted support in business operations, digitisation and digital transformation, accounting and financial management.

The outcome of the programme is to support female-led entrepreneurial teams with training, mentorship and seed funding.

Successful applicants will begin their journey with a 3-month incubation programme followed by a 5-month acceleration programme for selected participants from the incubation programme.

Who can Apply?

We seek to recruit the best entrepreneurial minds of women-led startup teams using digital technology as a key driver of innovation in business.

• The business owner must be a Zambian female founder or co-founder over 18 years of age and with an equal or majority stake;
• The business must be based and operating in Zambia;
• The business must already be using digital technology, or have a clear need to incorporate digital  technology to enable their business to grow
• The business owner must be of Zambian nationality;
• The business must have been registered with PACRA for at least 3 months;
• The business owner may be seeking support for customer, product, and/or business model development;
• Key persons of the business (preferably 2 founders) must be available to undertake the 3-month incubation programme from March to May 2023;

Also Read: Women in Tech // Standard Chartered, Bongo Hive Launch Program in Zambia

• The top 5 winners of the incubation programme must be able to attend a 6-month acceleration programme from June 21st  to November 21st 2023.
• The prize fund is primarily for building digital technology and any balance to be used in the business.

Benefits

• Business Incubation – Three (3) months of learning experience in business management and operations;
• Personalised Mentorship – Personalised mentorship for all participants and their business needs;
• Access to legal, accounting, financial planning and tech support;
• Access to networking opportunities with fellow successful applicants and industry experts;
• Funding Opportunities – $10,000 equity-free grant seed funding for the top five (5) finalists from the incubation programme to assist with the implementation of technology in their businesses;
• Six (6) months of ongoing support from Standard Chartered, BongoHive and a network of coaches and mentors to assist with go-to-market strategies and scaling-up for the top five (5) finalists;
• An opportunity to join BongoHive’s supportive Alumni Network.

Timeline

• Call for applications: 23rd Nov 2022 – 14th Jan 2023
• Application Shortlisting: 16th Jan – 27th Jan 2023
• Shortlist Announcement: 31st Jan 2023
• Bootcamp (top 40): 6th Feb – 10th Feb 2023
• Bootcamp Pitches: 15th Feb – 17th Feb 2023
• Top 10 notification – 21 Feb 2023
• Incubation Phase: 6th March – 26th May 2023
• Demo Day and Award Ceremony: 9th June 2023 and 16th June 2023
• Acceleration Phase (Post Incubation Support):  21st June – 21st November