Her Startup, an accelerator supporting women-led technology businesses in Africa, has opened applications for its second cohort, offering selected entrepreneurs intensive training, mentorship and access to investment opportunities to scale their businesses.
The initiative, spearheaded by KSH Foundation, Tomorrow Foundation and EHA Impact Ventures, will select 10 women founders of early-stage technology businesses for a specialised programme delivered by Founder Institute, the world’s largest pre-seed startup accelerator.
The programme seeks to address the persistent funding disparity confronting women entrepreneurs across Africa. Despite accounting for 58 per cent of the continent’s self-employed population, women founders secured less than one per cent of the more than $2 billion raised by African startups in 2025.
Her Startup was established to help bridge this gap by combining business training, financing and strategic networks in a single programme designed to help women entrepreneurs build sustainable, investment-ready ventures.
Under the initiative, selected founders will participate in a 12-week intensive training programme with Founder Institute, with their programme fees fully covered by Her Startup. Participants will also receive monthly stipends to enable them to focus on developing their businesses.
At the end of the training, founders will have the opportunity to pitch to Her Startup’s Investment Committee for funding through convertible revenue-based financing. They will also receive 12 months of sector-specific mentorship and access to the Founder Institute’s global network.
Eligible applicants must be women aged between 18 and 35 who serve as founders or chief executive officers of technology-enabled businesses. Their ventures must have operated for at least six months and generate a minimum of $500 in monthly gross revenue.
Founders from Francophone Africa are particularly encouraged to apply for the 2026/2027 cohort, reflecting the programme’s ambition to expand its reach across the continent.
Speaking on the initiative’s potential, Khalil Halilu, co-founder of Her Startup and founder of KSH Foundation, said, “Together, we can create a thriving ecosystem where women entrepreneurs are empowered to lead, innovate and succeed. I look forward to the incredible impact Her Startup will have, not just in Nigeria, but across Africa and around the world.”
The second cohort builds on the experience of the programme’s pilot phase in 2024/2025, which attracted more than 200 applications from 18 African countries. Ten founders were selected for training, while three ventures secured funding at the programme’s Pitch Day in Lagos in April 2025.
Since participating in the pilot, founders have reportedly won grants and awards, attracted investor interest and gained increased visibility for their businesses. The programme has also received international media attention, underscoring its emerging role in supporting women-led enterprises across Africa.
One of the beneficiaries, Blessing Aniefiok, Chief Operating Officer of Dynalimb Technologies and a 2024 Her Startup Associate, highlighted the impact of the programme on her business.
“Since Her Startup, we’ve seen a steady rise in customer adoption and product sales, as more amputees experience the comfort and mobility that Dynalimb’s affordable 3D-printed prosthetics provide,” she said.
For the programme’s partners, the initiative goes beyond addressing the funding gap to positioning women as key players in shaping the continent’s technological and economic future.
Maggie Gu, co-founder of Her Startup and president of Tomorrow Foundation, said technological progress was creating new opportunities for women to assume greater leadership roles in business and society.
“For thousands of years, physical strength and traditional structures of power placed women at a disadvantage in shaping economies and societies. Human progress and technological development have gradually changed that equation.
“Today, intelligence, creativity and judgement can be amplified as never before, opening a historic opportunity for women, not merely to participate in the future, but to stand at the forefront and help lead it. That is the deeper purpose of Her Startup,” she said.
A defining feature of the accelerator is its financing model, which combines convertible funding with revenue-based repayments. Under the arrangement, repayments are linked to the revenue generated by each company, offering founders a financing structure designed to accommodate the realities of growing businesses.
Evelyn Castle, co-founder of Her Startup and co-founder of EHA Impact Ventures, said the approach was intended to provide entrepreneurs with funding that supports their long-term success rather than simply increasing their access to capital.
“It’s not enough to just give these companies financing. It’s about giving them financing that will truly help them succeed. We chose a convertible, revenue-based loan, an innovative financing mechanism that is just starting to enter the market. It is incredibly founder-friendly, and it will help the women in this programme succeed,” she said.
With the launch of its second cohort, Her Startup aims to build on the progress of its pilot programme and extend its support to more women-led technology businesses across Africa.
Applications close on October 26, 2026. Interested founders can access the full eligibility criteria, programme information and application form at www.her-startup.com.