Standard Chartered Women in Technology Incubator programme (SC-WITI) has awarded GHC 57,000 each in seed funding to five women-led businesses to scale up their business operations. The incubator programme is run in Ghana by Standard Chartered Bank, in partnership with Ashesi University’s Ghana Climate Innovation Centre

The event held digitally due to covid restrictions rewarded the five start-ups who had emerged as the winners of a pitch event. The five were selected out of a shortlist of 14 start-ups that went through a four-month entrepreneurship skills training in the first phase of the programme.

Speaking at the ceremony, Alikem Adadevoh, Standard Chartered’s Head of Legal said “Our heartfelt congratulations to the five winners on their well-deserved success. As a bank, we believe that empowering women-owned businesses is crucial in driving Ghana’s economic development and accelerating progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. We are thrilled to be able to provide opportunities for women-led businesses to scale up and reach their entrepreneurial potential through our Women in Technology programme, and we look forward to seeing the amount of growth their businesses experience.”

In addition to the seed funding, the businesses will be receiving portfolio management support over the next 10 weeks, exposure to potential investors looking to support scaling women-led businesses and will also be joining the global SCWIT alumni network where they will have access to additional networking events, resources, content, and business scaling opportunities.

The five winners are:

1. The Autism Ambassadors of Ghana: a social enterprise that brings professionals and volunteers together to create more awareness on Autism and helps to improve the lives of children living with Autism through technology, using their Autism Aid App.                             Website: autismambassadors.org.gh

2. Farmhub Limited: an emerging key player in the agricultural sector offering services to clients using technological innovation (mobile farm app). The company has farming and farm management expertise, providing agronomic, capacity building, and post-harvest loss management services to farmers, as well as linking farmers to market opportunities. Website: farmhubgh.org

3. Pent Ranch: an enterprise formed by a group of friends passionate about the potential of Ghanaian agribusiness. Founded in 2019, the company has grown into a commercial-scale agribusiness with a present focus on egg production.                     Website: pentranch.com

4. Sabon Sake: an agriculture company transforming the sector by locally providing regenerative soil products and services that restore soil to good health and empower growers – leveraging on innovative technology to foster a low-carbon economy and increase healthy food production. Website: sabonsake.com

5. Simpliexpand: a creative agency that offers website design services with a focus on exceptional User Interface design and Data Analysis to help clients make real time market decisions. Their uniquely designed website portal gives clients access to broken down data to do so. Website: simpliexpand.com

Speaking after the competition, Ruka Sanusi, Executive Director of the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre, Ashesi University, stated that “We commend the award winners for their performance. One of the biggest challenges women entrepreneurs face when starting or growing their business is access to finance.  We are pleased to partner with Standard Chartered for this programme to address and respond to one of the key structural challenges small and growing businesses face.”

Congratulations to the participants for their remarkable ideas, pitches, and passion. For the full details of all participants, kindly visit: https://scwomenintechgh.com/cohorts/

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Standard Chartered Bank Ghana PLC is Ghana’s premier bank drawing its history from the Bank of British West Africa established in 1896. We are part of a leading international banking group, with a presence in 59 of the world’s most dynamic markets and serving clients in a further 85. Our purpose is to drive commerce and prosperity through our unique diversity. Our heritage and values are expressed in our brand promise, Here for good. We are committed to promoting economic and social development, doing so sustainably and equitably in line with our purpose. The Bank is made up of client segments supported by functions. Standard Chartered Bank Ghana PLC is listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange.

Ghana Climate Innovation Centre (GCIC) is a pioneering business incubator with a unique focus on developing sustainable enterprises and climate-responsive SME ventures and entrepreneurs in Ghana.  Our mission is to develop and support an exceptional set of transformational ventures and entrepreneurs who are pioneering innovation and adaptive or mitigating solutions for economic resilience and climate change issues in Ghana. We do this with a focus on key economic sectors, the provision of premium business advisory and business mentoring services, technical support in the development, prototyping and testing of their innovation, as well as financial grants to qualifying SMEs within our incubator.

Detailed information about the programme can be found at www.scwomenintechgh.com