Africa leads the world in female entrepreneurship, yet women-founded startups globally capture just 2–3% of venture capital – an unfortunate measure of systemic failure., as opposed to women’s capability. In this op-ed, Rebecca Enonchong– one of Africa’s most influential technology entrepreneurs – argues that the problem has never been women’s readiness. It is institutional readiness. What African women entrepreneurs need is not empowerment programmes or capacity building. They need capital, access, and respect.
I have always believed that technology can be a great leveller. When you download an app, you rarely know who built it, and you do not care. It works, or it doesn’t. I often use that example because, in technology, success depends on ideas and execution, not identity. But while a product may be neutral, the systems surrounding it, like finance, regulation, and perception, are not. The moment you walk into a bank or pitch to an investor, you are seen, and all the biases follow you into the room. It’s no secret that early on, I hid behind my brand, letting the product speak first. That helped, until I needed capital. Then the leveller vanished.
One fact that deserves more attention is that Africa has the highest rate of female entrepreneurship in the world, and in many parts of the continent women make up the majority of entrepreneurs. This is a strength we should celebrate. However, when women move into the technology sector, the dynamics shift. Tech remains globally male-dominated, and many initiatives that claim to support women entrepreneurs focus not on systemic reform but on “training” women to be ready for investment. I have seen major programmes where most of the funds were spent on consultants rather than on founders. There is only so much training a woman can take; what she needs is capital, access, and respect.
The data speaks for itself. Women-founded startups received just 2–3% of global venture capital in 2023, according to PitchBook data summarised by the World Economic Forum. This is not a reflection of women’s preparedness; it reflects structural bias.
I am not interested in victim narratives. I am interested in respect. Words matter. “Empowerment” implies someone else holds the power and doles it out. Women already have power. The job is to recognise it, fund it, and remove the needless friction that blunts it.
But the story of women’s entrepreneurship in Africa is not uniform. The barriers, and the opportunities, shift across regions, shaped by history, language and governance. Understanding those nuances is vital if we are to design interventions that truly work for women founders wherever they are.
Francophone realities, continental opportunities
Because I work across the continent, I see the regional contrasts first-hand. In Francophone Africa, the entrepreneurial environment is heavily bureaucratic. Red tape delays company formation and restricts cross-border activity. Yet, this formality also offers untapped strengths. The OHADA framework harmonises commercial law across 17 countries, creating a single legal foundation for business and a shared court for dispute resolution. Similarly, the CFA franc, used across 14 countries in West and Central Africa, reduces exchange-rate friction for intra-regional trade.
Entrepreneurs in these regions should leverage those structures. If you operate within a common legal or currency zone, your market is not confined to your national borders. It spans 14 or 17 countries. That single shift in perspective, from local to regional, can redefine growth trajectories and attract more ambitious investment.
Confidence also plays a part. In my experience mentoring founders, women are often more prepared but less audacious. Many hesitate to share their ideas until they are flawless, while their male peers will send a rough draft and ask for a meeting. That imbalance is not about competence; it is about conditioning. We need to reclaim the audacity to take space, to ask boldly, and to lead visibly.
Visibility itself is transformative. As a girl in Cameroon, most magazines I saw were French, and almost none featured Black women. Then one day, my mother brought home a copy of Ms. magazine with a Black woman on the cover. I remember keeping that issue beside me as I slept. It was the first time I had seen myself reflected in success, and it changed how I understood what was possible. That moment taught me that representation is not symbolic, it is strategic.
This is one reason I am proud to chair the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation, which celebrates excellence in engineering across the continent. Previous winners include Esther Kimani, who developed a crop pest and disease detection device, Norah Magero, who created a portable solar-powered fridge to store and transport vaccines, and Charlette N’Guessan, whose AI innovation in facial recognition software predates recent AI hype. The prize does not select winners because they are women; it honours the best innovations. When those winners happen to be women, the visibility is profound. It demonstrates that African women engineers are not outliers but leaders. Each new female applicant signals growing confidence and momentum, particularly in Francophone Africa, where participation is steadily increasing.
What must change now is not women’s readiness but institutional readiness. Governments should streamline regulations and maintain consistent business policies. Investors must move from “capacity building” to genuine capital deployment. And the ecosystem should invest in women-led funds and syndicates that can identify opportunities others overlook.
Technology can level the field, but only if the structures around it stop reinforcing inequality. African women entrepreneurs are not waiting for empowerment; we are already transforming economies. What we ask for is not rescue, but respect.
The author of this op-ed, Rebecca Enonchong, is one of Africa’s most influential technology entrepreneurs. She is Founder and CEO of AppsTech and also serves as Chair of ActivSpaces (African Center for Technology Innovation and Ventures), a pioneering technology incubator in Cameroon.
Her commitment to fostering entrepreneurship is demonstrated through her role as Co-Founder and board member of both the Cameroon Angels Network and African Business Angels Network. Rebecca’s expertise and leadership extend to her board positions at Venture Capital for Africa (VC4Africa), the Salesforce.org Foundation, and the African Media Initiative. Through these roles, she has made significant contributions to advancing entrepreneurship throughout Africa.
Enonchong is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng) and was Chair of the Africa Prize for Engineering Innovation 2025 judging panel.