Call for applications: ShEquity Business Accelerator programme

Established in March 2021 by ShEquity Partners, which provides smart investments for impactful, innovative and scalable female-led and owned businesses in Sub-Saharan Africa, in collaboration with its implementation partner, MBC Africa, SHEBA addresses the existing gender funding gap by de-risking African female-led businesses, getting them to become investment ready, and equipping the founders with the skill set needed to grow and scale their businesses.

The 17-week programme provides venture-building and technical support to African female entrepreneurs across the ECOWAS region who are looking to successfully grow their businesses and become investment-ready.

The call applies to Anglophone applicants with businesses duly registered in West Africa. A separate call for Francophone applicants with businesses registered in West Africa will be issued separately.

So far, The SHEBA programme has executed three cohorts of 30 participants each, with participants from Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

In addition to the programme development focus, SHEBA offers the opportunity to receive funding from ShEquity and other investors within the ShEquity network. After the acceleration programme, qualifying businesses are recommended to the ShEquity team for investment consideration. The typical ShEquity seed investment ranges between $50K and $250K, with an additional opportunity for post-investment support.

Interested applicants may apply here. The deadline for submissions is 21 April.

Requirements:

• SHEBA focuses on impactful, innovative, and scalable businesses, including tech-enabled businesses.
• The applicants’ businesses should be duly registered in ECOWAS countries, female-owned and managed with a minimum of 51% female ownership, and in operation for at least 24 months.

“With only 2.4% raised by female-only founding teams of the total raised funds by startups in Africa in 2022 ( ~ $4.8 billion), SHEBA is positioned as the bridge to closing the gender funding gap in Africa,” a statement reads. “The accelerator programme is designed to address investors’ concerns and investment risks by focusing on the following: Business Development, Finances, Legal & Governance, Human Resources & Leadership, Marketing & Communications as well as Impact Measurement. This investor-focused approach is complemented by hands-on market testing as well as executive coaching, mentorship sessions, and opportunities to leverage ShEquity and MBC Africa’s pan-African and global networks.”

View the original call here.