Africa’s New Wave of Women Innovators Takes Centre Stage as Five Founders Win Tech FoundHER Africa Challenge

Five women entrepreneurs were named winners of the inaugural Tech FoundHER Africa Challenge, securing more than $100,000 in equity-free capital at a ceremony hosted at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange a symbolic venue for a continent recalibrating how it backs its most promising innovators.

Supported by Naspers and Prosus, the challenge seeks to address one of Africa’s most entrenched structural gaps, the chronic underfunding and underexposure of women-led technology firms. The result is both a celebration of African innovation and a live test of whether corporate-backed grant capital can correct historical missteps that equity-focused venture models have failed to solve.

Tech FoundHER emerges against the legacy of Naspers Foundry, a R1.4 billion venture vehicle launched in 2019 to reshape South Africa’s startup ecosystem.
But by its closure in 2023, the fund had deployed just R700 million, with data from the Competition Commission showing that only a small share reached women or Black founders, a stark imbalance in a country sharply defined by inequality.

The Commission also noted the absence of a mandate to support historically disadvantaged founders. Among its portfolio, SweepSouth, co-founded by Aisha Pandor, stood out as the only investment in a startup led by a woman of color.

Tech FoundHER represents a deliberate pivot, one that Naspers executives admit was overdue.

A Targeted, Grant-Based Pan-African Approach

Launched in September 2025, the new challenge prioritizes:

• Equity-free grants over equity stakes
• A pan-African footprint, rather than a South Africa-only focus
• An explicit mandate to back women in leadership roles

The African edition followed a successful pilot in India and received 1,160+ applications, sourced in partnership with Lionesses of Africa, a network of 1.8 million female entrepreneurs.

Naspers South Africa CEO Phuthi Mahanyele-Dabengwa describes the initiative as more than funding:
“Women founders need capital, yes but also networks, visibility and access to markets. Without these, scaling becomes nearly impossible.”

The Winners: A Snapshot of Africa’s Innovation Frontier

The diversity of winning solutions paints a picture of a continent that is not simply catching up to global tech trends but shaping them.

1st Place: Esther Kimani – Farmer Lifeline (Kenya) – Solar-powered, AI-enabled diagnostic tools that detect crop pests and disease early, helping smallholder farmers reduce losses and stabilise food systems.

2nd Place: Folayemi Agusto – Tix Africa (Nigeria) – A self-service platform simplifying event ticketing, payments, and sales for Africa’s booming creative economy.

Joint 3rd Place: Margaret Wanjiku – Pollen Patrollers (Kenya)
Smart beehive technology is improving hive management and boosting pollination.

Jenny Ambukiyenyi Onya – Neotex.ai (Democratic Republic of Congo)
AI tools helping small livestock farmers digitise herds and raise productivity.

AI for Good Award: Leonora Tima – Gender Rights in Tech (South Africa) – Data and tech tools that support survivors of gender-based violence, an application of AI that bridges social justice and digital innovation.

A Global Problem: Women Receive Less Than 3% of Africa’s VC Capital

Tech FoundHER’s focus aligns with growing evidence:
Despite being central to Africa’s entrepreneurial economy, women receive under 3% of venture capital funding.

The $42 billion financing gap for female founders remains one of the continent’s largest untapped economic opportunities. Various global development analyses indicate that closing this gap could unlock hundreds of billions of dollars in new GDP, turning gender inclusion into a macroeconomic necessity, not merely a moral appeal.

Naspers and Prosus executives, including Chief Sustainability Officer Prajna Khanna, emphasize that the challenge is structured to give women-led businesses the capability, visibility and access required to push beyond survival and into scale.

Eligibility required:

• At least one woman founder
• A tech-first or tech-enabled business model
• Pre-Series B stage
• Clear revenue traction

This filters for founders on the edge of scalability, those for whom capital can unlock exponential growth.

Naspers’s decision to pivot from equity investments to non-dilutive grants signals both a philosophical shift and a practical recognition that early-stage African founders need breathing room not complexity.

The grants, slightly above $100,000 in total, are modest compared to Naspers Foundry’s tens of millions in equity commitments. But they reduce dilution fears and sidestep governance structures that often slow corporate venture deals.

The question is whether this approach can be scaled meaningfully.

What This Signals for the Future of African Venture Capital

For the winners, the value extends beyond the cash. They gain entry to the wider Naspers and Prosus ecosystems, mentorship from seasoned investors and a global platform often the missing ingredient for African founders who can build, but struggle to be seen.

For the ecosystem, Tech FoundHER exposes a tension. As corporate investors de-risk and pull back from equity exposure, African founders continue calling for patient, long-term capital especially at the growth stage. Tech FoundHER fills a critical piece of the puzzle, but not the whole picture.

Tech FoundHER Africa is an earnest attempt at correcting structural imbalances while accelerating high-potential women founders into Africa’s innovation mainstream. It demonstrates that even modest equity-free capital can surface strong solutions, reveal overlooked talent and build pathways toward scale.

But whether it becomes a durable pillar of Naspers’s strategy or remains a symbolic gesture depends on its evolution. Africa’s future entrepreneurs will be watching closely.