Village Capital and Standard Chartered Bank Collaborate to Empower Women-Led Start-ups in Tech
Village Capital, a leading impact investment firm, has joined forces with Standard Chartered Bank to launch a groundbreaking financing facility aimed at supporting women entrepreneurs in the tech industry.
The initiative specifically targets early-stage, impact-focused start-ups led by women founders, addressing the persistent gender financing gap prevalent in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The primary goal of this financing facility is to provide crucial catalytic capital, empowering women entrepreneurs to overcome the challenges they encounter in securing investments compared to their male counterparts.
Extensive research underscores the necessity of gender-focused investment initiatives, and this partnership aims to create dedicated support for impact-focused ventures led by women, working on solutions to address both local and global challenges.
Heather Matranga, Vice President of Impact Investments at Village Capital, expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration, stating, “We’re extremely excited to partner with Standard Chartered Bank to support their vision to lift participation of women globally by driving more investment capital to impact-driven women founders.”
In a significant move within this partnership, Village Capital has announced its inaugural investment in two women-led start-ups. Bena Care, a Kenyan start-up offering affordable clinical and supportive care to patients with life-limiting illnesses at home, and Mighty Finance, a Zambian fintech start-up focused on providing access to capital for primarily women-led businesses, have each received a USD 75,000 investment, bringing the total investment to USD 150,000.
Joyce Kibe, Head of Corporate Affairs, Brand, and Marketing at Standard Chartered, highlighted the importance of supporting women in business, emphasizing that it stimulates robust and resilient economic activity while providing crucial support often neglected for start-up businesses.
Standard Chartered’s Women in Tech program, which has successfully completed six cohorts, serves as the foundation for this collaboration. The program has trained over 70 women-led businesses, with 32 of them receiving grants totaling KES 44 million.
The partnership between Standard Chartered and Village Capital reflects their shared commitment to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion in impact investing.
By leveraging Village Capital’s experience in unlocking capital for impact-driven start-ups in underserved markets and Standard Chartered Bank’s dedication to empowering women entrepreneurs, this collaboration is poised to make a meaningful and lasting impact on the global entrepreneurial landscape.
Source: Tech Trends
