Move over 'tech bros': Women entrepreneurs join Africa's fintech boomWhen financial analyst Oluwatosin Olaseinde moved back home to Nigeria in 2013 after a decade studying and workingabroad, she decided it was time to tackle her own finances, so started reading up on stocks and mutual funds.Shocked at how little guidance was available for young professionals like herself, Olaseinde began sharing her learnings infun, bite-sized tutorials on Instagram, and much to her surprise, her posts went viral."I had no idea my page would just blow up," said the 34-year-old by phone from Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos."Just like me, there were young people who wanted to know how to manage their finances, but needed information in aneasy-to-understand way."Almost four years on, Olaseinde heads MoneyAfrica, an online financial literacy portal providing courses from budgetingand currency risk to inflation and treasury bills, and more recently also founded Ladda, an app-based one-stop investmentplatform.Collectively, the platforms have a 300,000-strong social media community and more than 15,000 active users. MoneyAfricais projected to earn $1 million in revenue this year, said Olaseinde, and Ladda has $700,000 in assets under management.From digital payments, loans and insurance to share trading and cryptocurrency, Olaseinde is among a growing number offemale entrepreneurs in nations such as South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt taking a lead in Africa's fintech revolution.Since pioneering mobile money services in the late 2000s, Africa has become a hotbed for fintech - financial technology -innovation with an explosion of startups vying to tap the region's unbanked millions.Last year, fintech companies attracted more than 60% of the nearly $5 billion in investments to African startups, accordingto market intelligence and research firm Briter Bridges.For female entrepreneurs, however, getting their innovations off the ground is often hampered by gender biases that stifletheir ability to access finance, gain exposure and grow their businesses, industry experts and women founders said.From 2013 to 2021, less than 5% of the total $12.6 billion in funding to Africa's tech startups went to all-female foundingteams compared with 82% to all male-ones, data shared by Briter Bridges showed.The stark funding gap between male- and female-led startups in the sector is often attributed to the shortage of female"techpreneurs", but some industry experts disputed this."It's nonsense for investors to claim that there aren't any women entrepreneurs in fintech to invest in," said Martha MghendiFisher, founder of African Women in Fintech and Payments, a non-profit with a network of thousands of members."Investors are simply not looking hard enough."Female fintech founders said that even when they do have the opportunity to pitch to venture capital (VC) firms, genderbiases mean they often raise less and receive lower valuations."I don't think it helps that the majority of VC panels tend to be men who are white and much older," said Faith Mokgalaka,founder of Johannesburg-based Puno, a digital platform enabling farmers to sell shares, or a portion of their next harvest."They aren't openly sexist, but you do feel there is more scrutiny on you compared to men. More questions are asked,additional documentation and due diligence is required," added 22-year-old Mokgalaka.A recent study cited by Findexable estimates that white men control 93% of venture capital dollars.An increasing number of accelerators - which provide early-stage companies with training, mentorship and financing - andventure capital firms are now shifting focus to women-led businesses.The Catalyst Fund, an accelerator working with inclusive tech innovators, has supported 61 companies - more than onethird of them founded by women.Maelis Carraro, the fund's managing director, said investors need to rethink how they interact with female entrepreneurs."The whole setup in the VC space such as the Q&A, the aggressive pitching, the need to demonstrate over-confidence hasto change," said Carraro. "We need to make the whole conversation more inclusive."More diverse VC boards, programmes to encourage girls to pursue STEM careers and initiatives celebrating successfulwomen founders would inspire others and foster a more supportive environment, entrepreneurs said."It's a 'tech bro' environment, for sure," said Delila Kidanu, 26, co-founder of Koa, an app-based savings and investmentplatform in Nairobi."It would be important to have some training on gender biases so that people can realize how their actions and decisionscan adversely affect women entrepreneurs."Entrepreneurs have created some of the most noteworthy and successful companies in history. Although manyentrepreneurs use their skills to create and run a company, others pursue a related job. Discuss the five career paths forentrepreneurs and evaluate which one is the most likely career path that Oluwatosin Olaseinde is on.
Move over 'tech bros': Women entrepreneurs join Africa's fintech boom
When financial analyst Oluwatosin Olaseinde moved back home to Nigeria in 2013 after a decade studying and working
abroad, she decided it was time to tackle her own finances, so started reading up on stocks and mutual funds.
Shocked at how little guidance was available for young professionals like herself, Olaseinde began sharing her learnings in
fun, bite-sized tutorials on Instagram, and much to her surprise, her posts went viral.
"I had no idea my page would just blow up," said the 34-year-old by phone from Nigeria's commercial capital, Lagos.
"Just like me, there were young people who wanted to know how to manage their finances, but needed information in an
easy-to-understand way."
Almost four years on, Olaseinde heads MoneyAfrica, an online financial literacy portal providing courses from budgeting
and currency risk to inflation and treasury bills, and more recently also founded Ladda, an app-based one-stop investment
platform.
Collectively, the platforms have a 300,000-strong social media community and more than 15,000 active users. MoneyAfrica
is projected to earn $1 million in revenue this year, said Olaseinde, and Ladda has $700,000 in assets under management.
From digital payments, loans and insurance to share trading and cryptocurrency, Olaseinde is among a growing number of
female entrepreneurs in nations such as South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Egypt taking a lead in Africa's fintech revolution.
Since pioneering mobile money services in the late 2000s, Africa has become a hotbed for fintech - financial technology -
innovation with an explosion of startups vying to tap the region's unbanked millions.
Last year, fintech companies attracted more than 60% of the nearly $5 billion in investments to African startups, according
to market intelligence and research firm Briter Bridges.
For female entrepreneurs, however, getting their innovations off the ground is often hampered by gender biases that stifle
their ability to access finance, gain exposure and grow their businesses, industry experts and women founders said.
From 2013 to 2021, less than 5% of the total $12.6 billion in funding to Africa's tech startups went to all-female founding
teams compared with 82% to all male-ones, data shared by Briter Bridges showed.
The stark funding gap between male- and female-led startups in the sector is often attributed to the shortage of female
"techpreneurs", but some industry experts disputed this.
"It's nonsense for investors to claim that there aren't any women entrepreneurs in fintech to invest in," said Martha MghendiFisher, founder of African Women in Fintech and Payments, a non-profit with a network of thousands of members.
"Investors are simply not looking hard enough."
Female fintech founders said that even when they do have the opportunity to pitch to venture capital (VC) firms, gender
biases mean they often raise less and receive lower valuations.
"I don't think it helps that the majority of VC panels tend to be men who are white and much older," said Faith Mokgalaka,
founder of Johannesburg-based Puno, a digital platform enabling farmers to sell shares, or a portion of their next harvest.
"They aren't openly sexist, but you do feel there is more scrutiny on you compared to men. More questions are asked,
additional documentation and due diligence is required," added 22-year-old Mokgalaka.
A recent study cited by Findexable estimates that white men control 93% of venture capital dollars.
An increasing number of accelerators - which provide early-stage companies with training, mentorship and financing - and
venture capital firms are now shifting focus to women-led businesses.
The Catalyst Fund, an accelerator working with inclusive tech innovators, has supported 61 companies - more than onethird of them founded by women.
Maelis Carraro, the fund's managing director, said investors need to rethink how they interact with female entrepreneurs.
"The whole setup in the VC space such as the Q&A, the aggressive pitching, the need to demonstrate over-confidence has
to change," said Carraro. "We need to make the whole conversation more inclusive."
More diverse VC boards, programmes to encourage girls to pursue STEM careers and initiatives celebrating successful
women founders would inspire others and foster a more supportive environment, entrepreneurs said.
"It's a 'tech bro' environment, for sure," said Delila Kidanu, 26, co-founder of Koa, an app-based savings and investment
platform in Nairobi.
"It would be important to have some training on gender biases so that people can realize how their actions and decisions
can adversely affect women entrepreneurs."
Entrepreneurs have created some of the most noteworthy and successful companies in history. Although many
entrepreneurs use their skills to create and run a company, others pursue a related job. Discuss the five career paths for
entrepreneurs and evaluate which one is the most likely career path that Oluwatosin Olaseinde is on.
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