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A third cohort of the Standard Chartered Bank Zambia’s Women in Tech which will give five finalists US$10,000 each as seed funding to boost their businesses using technology has been launched.
The three-month programme which already started two weeks ago supports women businesses that use or plan to use technology.
It is being implemented in partnership with BongoHive.
Standared Charted Bank Zambia Chief Executive Officer, Sonny Zulu, said the programme since the first cohort had transformed women businesses using technology.
“In the second cohort that even went up to further to another level and now we are doing the third cohort and by the time we are finishing that particular programme, we are seeing a huge difference in the start and the end.
“The are some that were completely doing things manually now by digitising, they are growing their businesses three times and they continue to grow,” Zulu said at the launch of the third cohort in Lusaka on Thursday evening.
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He said the bank had noted that there were a number of sectors that women were not participating in and especially when it came to technology.
Zulu explained that it was for this reason that the bank was thriving to lift the participation of women in technology using the programme.
“We are also seeing that a number of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) as well need a lot of support so that they can be able to participate in the mainstream of doing business so for us this is what we are doing across
“So, for us, it is not only about giving money in terms of financing, it is also about helping supporting and coaching. At the end of the of the programme, the top five, we are giving them each a US$10,000 as seed money,” he said.
Speaking at the same function, BongoHive Co-Founder and Director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Simunza Muyangana, stressed the need to empower women businesses.
Muyangana said the partnership with Standard Charted bank would support women led businesses dealing with technology.
“Women in Tech is a three-month programme to support their business and understand how to approach their customers.
“We need to help them build businesses that are resilient regardless of what happens in the economy. So Standard Charted bank have come up with an amazing programme for women using or plan to use technology,” he said.
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