Africa’s Startup Scene Taking Steps Towards Gender Diversity, Report Shows

Small steps have been taken towards greater gender diversity within the African tech startup ecosystem but plenty remains to be done if anything close to parity is to be achieved, according to a new report released by tech publication Disrupt Africa in partnership with Africa-focused pre-seed investment programme Madica.

The report, the second edition of “Diversity Dividend: Exploring Gender Equality in the African Tech Ecosystem” which debuted last year explores the state of gender diversity in the African startup and venture capital ecosystems. It contains both quantitative and qualitative data – quantifying female founders and VCs in the ecosystem, as well as their access to funding and opportunities, and polling them directly about their experiences within the ecosystem. It also features personalised case studies.

The authors of the report say they have tracked measurable progress from a gender diversity perspective over the last 12 months, yet what has been achieved can still only be characterised as “baby steps” given the significant disadvantage women face within the ecosystem.

Of 2,600 African tech startups studied for the purposes of the publication, just 17.3 per cent had at least one female co-founder, and 11.1 per cent had a female CEO. These figures are by no means high enough, the research shows, but do nonetheless reveal progress since the first edition, when 14.6 per cent had a female on the founding team and just 9.6 per cent were led by a woman CEO.

There has also been progress on the funding front, though by no means enough, the report suggests. The percentage of total African tech funding raised by ventures with at least one female co-founder increased to 16.6 per cent in 2023 from 9.3 per cent in 2022. Meanwhile, the share of funding raised by female-led startups was up to 8.2 per cent in 2023 from 2.8 per cent from the year before.

“This second edition of our pioneering research publication, “Diversity Dividend”, tracks small but nonetheless significant steps towards a more gender-diverse African startup ecosystem, but more needs to be done to ensure the sector more quickly towards the gender parity it needs to really scale and succeed. We thank our partners for helping us to get this vital publication out there, and look forward to continuing to track developments over the coming years,” said Gabriella Mulligan, co-founder of Disrupt Africa.

As with the inaugural edition, those partners were once again led by Madica, an Africa-focused pre-seed investment programme dedicated to empowering underrepresented and underfunded mission-driven founders. 

“At Madica, we are staunch advocates for the need and also the transformative impact of diversity, integrating it into the fabric of our organisation and operations. As we continue to champion successful women in tech, making admirable examples of them, we hope it creates a ripple effect and point of reference for the entire industry and also inspires young women to venture and succeed in the industry,” said Emmanuel Adegboye, head of Madica.

Other partners include leading impact investing firm Goodwell Investments; SAIS powered by GIZ; a company development and accelerator programme project focused on the agriculture, food, climate and livestock sectors implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministery for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ); and the International Trade Centre’s NTF V programme.

Nico Blaauw, partner at Goodwell Investments, said there was a long tradition of female entrepreneurship in Africa, yet somehow that has not yet translated into the startup scene, where there is still a huge imbalance in gender diversity. 

Michel Bernhardt, head of programme at SAIS, said women were the central pillar of agriculture in many African countries, yet startup innovation on the continent remained a male-dominated field. 

“It is important to support more female founders and innovators. Their numbers are growing, but there could and should be more, so that they can develop, test and deploy innovations and technologies that help women in agriculture in Africa to improve their livelihoods,” he said. “To do so, understanding the linkages between gender, agriculture and startup innovations is crucial, in order to inspire action and change.”