Seedstars, SANAD Program to Back Female-Led Startups in Africa

STARTUP VENTURE CAPITALNovember 25, 2025 at 1:52 PM UTC

TLDR

Seedstars has partnered with the SANAD Technical Assistance Facility (TAF) to launch the SANAD Elevate Her Programme
This multi-phase initiative supports female-led and 2X-aligned startups across the Middle East, North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa
The programme targets persistent barriers faced by women founders, including a $42 billion funding gap and limited access to finance, markets, and support networks

Seedstars has partnered with the SANAD Technical Assistance Facility (TAF) to launch the SANAD Elevate Her Programme. This multi-phase initiative supports female-led and 2X-aligned startups across the Middle East, North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

The programme targets persistent barriers faced by women founders, including a $42 billion funding gap and limited access to finance, markets, and support networks.

Seedstars, a Swiss organisation active in more than 90 markets, provides training, mentorship and investment for early-stage startups. SANAD TAF focuses on entrepreneurship and economic inclusion in MENA and Africa, with an emphasis on supporting women and youth.

The Elevate Her Programme will work with 40 high-potential startups, offering structured acceleration, tailored technical support, and investment-readiness training. The goal is to help founders build scalable companies, strengthen local entrepreneurial ecosystems, and support job creation.

Eligible startups must be female-led and aligned with the 2X Challenge, with priority sectors including sustainability, agrifinance and fintech. Participating countries span Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Morocco, the Palestinian Territories, Rwanda, Senegal, Tunisia, Uganda and Yemen.

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Key Takeaways

The Elevate Her initiative reflects a broader push to improve gender representation across emerging-market startup ecosystems, where women founders continue to receive a disproportionately small share of venture funding. By offering both training and access to capital networks, the programme aims to close structural gaps that keep many women-led companies from scaling. The focus on 2X-aligned businesses signals an emphasis on measurable gender impact, linking support to global standards for women’s economic participation. Sectors such as sustainability, agrifinance and fintech are central to economic resilience across MENA and Africa, and female-led innovation in these areas can have strong spillover effects for communities. By engaging 40 startups across 15 markets, the programme seeks to build a pipeline of investment-ready companies and strengthen investor confidence in women founders. If successful, Elevate Her could help shift funding patterns and position more female-led startups for regional expansion and long-term growth.

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