The Business Growth Initiative for Startups has premiered Women Who Build, a documentary spotlighting the journeys of women-led startups in Nigeria, as the programme closed its 2025 cohort with a reception that brought together founders, investors, policymakers, and ecosystem leaders in Lagos.
The reception, held on December 12, marked the culmination of a five-month women-focused scale-support programme funded by the UK Government’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and delivered through the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub under the Digital Access Programme, with implementation by Ubulu Development Foundation and Spurt!. The initiative was designed to equip growth-stage, women-led startups with the structure, visibility, and strategic support needed to scale sustainably in Nigeria’s challenging business environment.
From the outset, BGIS set out to address a persistent gap in the innovation ecosystem by asking what could happen if female founders received targeted, practical, and ecosystem-level support that moves businesses forward. Over the course of the programme, that question translated into hands-on advisory support for 14 women-led startups operating across fintech, edtech, healthcare, food and health tech, AI, SaaS, logistics, creative commerce, and community health. While rooted in local realities, the ventures share ambitions that extend beyond national borders and reflect Africa’s evolving economic future.
Opening the event, the Chief Executive Officer of Ubulu Development Foundation reflected on the programme’s purpose and outcomes, noting that BGIS was intentionally designed as a pilot model to address structural barriers facing women founders. He described the initiative as a blueprint that can be replicated across the ecosystem, while reaffirming the partners’ commitment to continued engagement with the cohort beyond the formal end of the programme.
A key moment of the evening was a one-on-one conversation focused on resilience and growth in uncertain economic conditions. The discussion featured the founder of Iyewo and the Programme Manager of the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub, who explored the realities of building and scaling businesses in Nigeria. The founder shared how Iyewo emerged from firsthand experience as an infectious disease specialist, identifying gaps in healthcare access for informal workers such as market traders and artisans who fall outside formal insurance systems. Rather than targeting only high-income or visible customer segments, the company was intentionally built to serve underserved communities, a choice that reflects a broader trend among women-led ventures within the BGIS cohort.
The conversation also highlighted how many women founders build customer-led, need-driven solutions that often sit outside traditional high-growth narratives, placing them in social impact categories that remain under-supported by existing policy and financing structures.
The premiere of Women Who Build served as the emotional centre of the evening. The 20-minute documentary captures the lived realities, ambitions and resilience of the 2025 cohort, offering a closer look at the personal and professional journeys behind the businesses. The screening drew strong reactions from the audience, followed by reflections from featured founders who spoke about the value of having their stories told and their work validated within the ecosystem.
The reception concluded with a Deal Day Showcase hosted in partnership with Rising Tide Africa, where selected founders pitched their businesses to angel investors from the Rising Tide Africa Angel Network. The session generated follow-up conversations, investor questions and strategic feedback, signalling growing interest in women-led ventures operating in sectors such as healthcare access, legal technology and digital mobility.
One of the standout presentations came from Iyewo, whose pitch focused on expanding healthcare access for market traders and underserved communities. The discussion underscored the strength of its impact-driven model, with investors encouraging deeper documentation of impact metrics and outcomes to strengthen future fundraising and partnership opportunities.
Although the reception marked the close of the current cohort, programme partners emphasised that it represents the start of a longer-term effort to strengthen women-led innovation in Nigeria. BGIS will continue to support founders through post-programme advisory, amplify their progress through digital platforms and engage partners to unlock new pathways to sustainable growth. The Women Who Build documentary will be released publicly on YouTube on December 15, 2025.
According to the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub, the cohort reflects the type of women-led ventures Nigeria’s innovation ecosystem needs to support more deliberately, positioning BGIS as a growing pipeline of resilient, investment-ready businesses with long-term growth potential.
The Business Growth Initiative for Startups is a women-focused growth support programme targeting female founders often overlooked by traditional accelerators and investment networks. By combining structured advisory, technical support, local expertise, visibility and investor access, the initiative helps startups build the operational foundation required to scale sustainably. The programme is funded by the FCDO and the UK-Nigeria Tech Hub and implemented by Ubulu Development Foundation and Spurt!.
