Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria Limited, in partnership with Village Capital and Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) has announced the top 10 finalists progressing into Cohort 6 of its Futuremakers Women in Technology Incubator programme in Nigeria.
This follows the successful completion of the last five editions, which have seen 25 winners emerge, collectively receiving over $250,000 in seed funding for their businesses in addition to leadership advisory sessions.
The incubator is designed to support and promote the economic and social development of women in Nigeria through innovation and technology-led entrepreneurship.
Through the initiative, the bank continues to focus on capacity building for women-owned or founded small enterprises and sees this as a great opportunity to support greater diversity in gender representation within technology entrepreneurship for women in the country.
The programme provides them with training, mentorship and seed funding. Similar to the last edition, shortlisted candidates will go through targeted training during which they will interact with industry experts, business development coaches and executives. The cohort offers 10 young businesswomen opportunities for expert-led entrepreneurial training, business mentorship from seasoned business development professionals, investor pitch opportunities for access to funding and the opportunity to be part of a vibrant community of female innovators over a 12-week executive bootcamp.
At the end of the training period, five winners with the most compelling ideas will be chosen, and each winner will be awarded up $10,000 in equity-free grants to scale their solutions in addition to other benefits, including continuous business mentoring and advisory support for their business.
The shortlisted women are Lilian Dike (Spice Social Ltd), Eunice Olopade (Testbloq), Chinwendu Nweke (Bridge Merchant Enterprise), Linda Ekewogu (Tradetracka) and Olapeju Nwanganga (Plotous Page Limited).
Others are Kemi Olakunle (HealthVest), Blessing Aniefiok (Dynalimb Technologies), Esther Eruchie (FriendnPal), Sarah Andino (Talktu) and Omobosola Karimat (Hafrikplay).Omolara Olarerin (Pocketfood) Benice Jehwe (Mimshack Anointed Int. Ltd) are among the finalists.
Commenting on the programme and shortlisted cohort 6 candidates, Head Corporate Affairs, Brand and Marketing, Nigeria, Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria, Joke Adu, said: “We are pleased to continue empowering female entrepreneurs in Nigeria through the Futuremakers Women in tech Incubator, the first of its kind impact initiative for female technology entrepreneurs in Nigeria. For our shortlisted candidates, we are optimistic about the impact this programme will have on their business growth journeys and more excited about the ripple effect socio-economic empowerment it would have on other entrepreneurs in Nigeria. The support the beneficiaries get will go a long way in ensuring the sustainability of their businesses while creating employment for more women and youths in the country.”
She added that this initiative builds on the bank’s track record of increasing women’s access to entrepreneurial finance, employability and supporting adolescent girls and women through financing and capacity building.”
Following the successful launch of the programme in Nigeria in 2019, the programme has rolled out in other markets, including Bahrain and Zambia. Other markets also running incubators include Kenya and the UAE.
The supported ventures over the years have spanned a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, fashion, renewable energy, health, education and sustainability, demonstrating the diverse and transformative potential of women-led innovation.
The bank first launched the programme to support women in technology in 2014 at the City College of New York, USA. Nigeria was the second market to launch the programme in Africa and partners with the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of the Pan-Atlantic University as its implementation partners.
Globally, over the next three years, the accelerator will support more than 360 women entrepreneurs in building thriving businesses, providing over 32 catalytic grants totalling nearly $1.9 million and by extension, empower the creation of over 1,200 jobs across participating markets. The top five winners in Nigeria will be announced in October 2025.
