Women founders are perpetually busy and fiercely dedicated to their businesses, ambitions, and families, and more often than not, to all of the above. This dedication continues to help Women founders overcome many unique challenges and in 2020 has seen more than 21% of the continent’s investments secured by Women founded, co-founded and led startups. As the AWS Activate Africa Startup team we believe in the strategic importance of supporting Women Founded & Led Technology Startups . In 2021 we will be launching the AWS Africa Startup Connect – Women Founded & Led Startups program with the aim of enabling and connecting Africa’s inspiring Women founders and providing access to AWS experts and mentors.
This program is designed to support Women Founded or Led* startups in Africa and participants can be building technology core or technology-enabled business, that are solving real problems and working to implement technology solutions within their existing or new startup businesses.
Participants should
Be able to commit up to 3 hours every 5 weeks for AWS Africa Startup Connect sessions.
Be availabile to connect with mentors based on scheduled opportunities.
Be willing to learn from and share their own experience with peers.
Complete a 5 slide story deck about the founder and startup (template will be provided to all participants)
Have an interest in learning about new technologies & services like Machine Learning and AI to enhance their products, services and business.
Qualify as Startups that:
are founded, co-founded by Women or *have Women in a senior leadership position.
are based in or have their primary business and teams in Africa.
are technology core or enabled startups.
are less than 10 years old.
have secured or have the intention to raise pre-Seed, Seed or Series A investment.
Benefits of joining the AWS Africa Startup Connect – Women Founded & Led Startups program
AWS Africa Startup Connect – Women Founded & Led Startup Sessions.
Women Founded & Led Office Hours (Access to Account Managers & Solution Architects).
Access to AWS startup support programs like Mentorship & AWS Activate.
Support for qualifying innovative Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence Use Cases & Proof of Concepts.
Qualifying introductions to relevant Accelerators & Investors.
Access to relevant AWS events & trainings.
Networking with other Women Startup Founders & Leaders from Africa.
Selection for AWS Startup Story reference opportunities.
Participating startup founders or leaders who already have a working MVP on AWS infrastructure, a market deployed product on AWS or those interested in migrating existing project to AWS may qualify for the AWS migration support program and AWS service credits.
Process
Women Founded and Led* Startups are invited to join by completing the application form by 18 January 2021.
The AWS Africa startup team will connect with you directly to complete on-boarding process.
An invitation with the date & time for the first AWS Africa Startup Connect – Women Founded & Led Startups session will be shared in early February 2021.
Regular updates on 2021 events, trainings and opportunities will be shared with the community.
