With just 30% of women in the tech business of sub-Saharan Africa, in the last few years, we have seen a drastic shift in innovations by tech entrepreneurs – also known as tech-preneurs’—using technology to provide simple tech solutions to everyday problems.
Despite the gender gap in the African tech business, African women have worked hard to provide solutions to their communities, make a name for themselves in the growing tech industry, and inspire young girls to take up the STEM industry fearlessly.
With an endless list of African women in tech, you should know and celebrate these five female-led tech companies in Africa. Each of these women has innovated a unique service and impacted lives in different ways.
DIARRABLU by Diarra Boussa
Founded by Senegalese innovator and serial entrepreneur Diarra Boussa, DIARRABLU— is “a high contemporary lifestyle brand with a priority in sustainability while selling Africa’s rich fashion to a global customer base.
The company’s primary production is in Dakar, Senegal, focusing on sustainability, tradition, wanderlust and algorithms.
Among Quartz Africa innovators 2021 list, Diarra Boussa uses graphs and geometrics to create and design iconic and prints for fashion use through her brand, DIARRABLU.
DIARRABLU’s work has been showcased at the New York and Paris fashion weeks and featured in major publications worldwide.
Jetstream Africa by Miishe Addy
Jetstream African uses technology to solve the inefficiencies of shipping in Africa.
Co-founded by Miishe Addy in 2018, the company based in Ghana provides a supply chain management platform to connect exporters, logistics providers with trade finance and importers.
According to a publication, Addy says, “50% of the country’s registered freight forward is on board on the tech platform”.
Ingressive Capital by Maya Horgan Famodu
” We are committed to supporting the next generation of African innovators”—that’s what Ingressive Capital writes on their Twitter page. Well, they are really in for a change.
Founded by Nigeria’s Maya Horgan Famodu, Ingressive capital is a Lagos based funding company that focuses on backing African companies at the pre-seed stages.
Among the company’s earliest bets was Paystack, the Nigerian payment processor Strip bought for more than $200 million in 2020.
With $10 million in the bank and a pretty good number of investments in Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, and Egypt, Ingressive Capital and Maya Horgan— are placed to make more investments.
Maya by Seynabou Dieng Traore
Inspired to process food locally, Seynabou Dieng Traore started Maya—a food processing company based in Mali. Since 2017, the company has processed 78 tons of vegetables and cereals sourced locally and trained a handful of farmers to become potential partners.
These farmers are confident enough to invest more in producing goods as there is a market for it.
Maya—has expanded its wings to Senegal—to provide food processing solutions.
HackathonGirls by Juma Baldeh
What makes HackathonGirls different from other companies in this blog is building the next generation of women in tech in the Gambia.
With a significant gender gap in the tech industry in the Gambia, Juma Baldeh started HackatonGirls in 2016 to provide web literacy for youths living in The Gambia.
With a dream to see girls becoming CEOs in tech companies in the Gambia, Bladeh has never stopped working on it. The company is the first tech hub in the Gambia, which has trained more than 40 young girls—who received six months of weekly training for free.
Photos: Google
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