Anna Ekeledo is an innovation ecosystem builder, advisor and formerExecutive Director of AfriLabs. She contributes to shaping policies and fostering collaborations that promote innovation and digital transformation. Ekeledo holds a first-class degree in Psychology from Covenant University, Nigeria, and an M.Sc. in International Marketing Management from Leeds University Business School, UK. She is a Skoll World Forum Fellow and has been recognized as one of Africa’s top economic and tech leaders by organisations such as Choiseul 100 Africa and Agile 50. In this interview, she speaks on driving Africa’s innovation through women-led policies.
What are the biggest barriers still preventing women from fully participating in Africa’s innovation economy, and what will it take for ecosystem builders to dismantle them?
While Africa boasts impressive numbers of women graduating in STEM, approaching 47 percent at the university level, a sharp drop-off occurs where it matters most, and that is in leadership and entrepreneurship. This disparity is driven by persistent, fundamental roadblocks: limited access to capital, exclusionary networks, insufficient mentorship, and entrenched systemic bias. To genuinely dismantle these barriers and unlock the full potential of African women in tech, we cannot rely on passive measures. We must design inclusion into the system itself. This means consciously creating gender-smart venues of capital, leveraging mentors who actively open doors, embedding best practices within innovation hubs, and implementing ecosystem policies that eliminate the optional nature of women’s leadership. Inclusion must be intentional, not an afterthought.
What key lessons about gender inclusion should Africa’s innovation leaders internalise?
The most critical lesson for any leader shaping Africa’s innovation landscape is that inclusion is a strategic imperative. Based on our journey at AfriLabs and across the continent, we have learned that true transformation requires a systemic approach. We must proactively design inclusion, meaning we must build gender-smart criteria directly into the governance of innovation hubs, accelerator programmes, and funding applications. Innovation leaders must also proactively step in to connect women founders to diverse funding sources and key decision-makers. Mentorship offers advice, but sponsorship offers access and leverage. For women to reach the highest levels of leadership and secure significant funding, they need advocates who will use their own social capital to open doors and champion their cause. Finally, visibility matters. We must aggressively promote the success stories of women founders and hub directors. This practice not only inspires the next generation of innovators but also critically serves to normalise women in leadership in the eyes of investors, policymakers, and the wider ecosystem, reinforcing the message that women’s leadership is a concrete reality, not an anomaly.
As you transition into your next chapter, what gaps in Africa’s innovation ecosystem are you most eager to address?
As I transition into my next chapter, my focus remains on addressing the structural gaps that are currently the biggest inhibitors to sustainable, inclusive growth across Africa’s innovation ecosystem. My central priority is harnessing the power of Digital Transformation. While we’ve made strides in participation, the challenge now lies in scaling and ensuring that this transformation is fundamentally inclusive. There are three critical areas that I am eager to tackle. One, we must strategically narrow our focus to the digitalisation of key sectors to boost them for economic scale and social development. To achieve this, we need to center data and innovation as the driving tools, with a keen emphasis on the effective and ethical use of AI to accelerate progress. Two, we must build and implement Gender-Smart Investment Systems by reforming funding frameworks so that capital recognises and actively invests in women-led ventures, moving beyond restrictive bias. And lastly, we must create seamless mechanisms and corridors that allow innovations especially those leveraging digital tools to move beyond national borders and access larger regional markets. Crucially, none of this progress is sustainable without the right foundation. This means addressing gaps in basic connectivity and digital skills (since women still face disproportionately low digital access) and recognising the immense importance of enabling policies. My work ahead will concentrate on bridging these gaps through targeted collaboration with policymakers, investors, and hub-networks. The goal is clear: ensuring that African innovations don’t just emerge but are empowered to scale sustainably and inclusively through digital transformation across the continent.
How must Africa’s digital economy evolve to position women not just as beneficiaries but as architects of innovation and who is responsible for driving that shift?
To shift from women as beneficiaries to women as architects of innovation, three things are vital: Women must design, build and lead digital solutions not only use them. Ecosystem funding and structures must reflect gender-equity because while women may represent a strong part of the potential talent pool, they receive a disproportionately low share of leadership and capital. Responsibility lies with all. Governments must enact gender-smart policy; investors must commit to gender-diverse portfolios; hub-networks must embed inclusion; and women themselves must be seated at decision-making tables. If there’s nobody in the room, the product, policy, or business is incomplete.
Where do you see yourself focusing your energy and expertise next, and how does that align with the broader needs of Africa’s tech and innovation landscape?
I will be doing more of what I do now at scale, with a deeper-dive into providing more investment and support for startups and digitally enabled MSMEs to access new markets; removing structural barriers that prevent inclusive innovation and business growth across Africa; and ensuring Africa is well represented on global tables where decisions are made on rules, standards, policy and funds mobilisation of technology, innovation, digital trade related matters.
What is your vision for the next decade of women in Africa’s innovation ecosystem? What needs to happen now to make that vision a reality?
My vision is centered on a decade where African women are no longer exceptions in innovation, but the norm founding and scaling startups, leading innovation hubs, and fundamentally influencing policy and investment. It’s a future where young girls in African schools can instinctively see themselves as builders, not just consumers of technology. To realise this vision, we must act decisively now: Invest in early exposure to STEM and entrepreneurship for girls at the foundational level. Commit to measurable targets for funding women-led ventures, ensuring accountability within the investment community. Guarantee women occupy decision-making positions across all key pillars of the ecosystem in hubs, in funds, and in policy bodies. And critically, we must relentlessly tell the stories of women’s success for the next generation to see and emulate.
What legacy do you hope to build through your work, and how will you measure the impact of your contributions to Africa’s innovation future?
When I reflect on my journey and the work that still lies ahead, my deepest hope is that my legacy will be one of transformation. Not transformation defined by the number of projects or initiatives delivered, but by a lasting shift in how innovation and entrepreneurship are lived and experienced across Africa. For me, innovation and startup success should not stop at belonging or shaping the future, it must be about building and scaling real businesses and innovations that solve challenges across sectors, create wealth, and uplift communities. True impact happens when ideas grow into enterprises that transform lives, economies, and narratives. I want to see an Africa where African-led scale-ups thrive across the continent and globally as proof that our innovations don’t just emerge; they dominate markets. I envision more diverse local leaders in key roles across hubs, funds, and high-growth startups, leaders drawn from every community, empowered to influence decisions and drive progress. Transformation, to me, also means a redistribution of power to more locally informed policy and investment decisions that truly serve the continent’s strategic needs. And globally, I want Africa to be recognised not as an emerging participant, but as the definitive hub of innovation leadership, where diverse local talent drives world-class growth. Ultimately, success will be measured not only by how many people feel they belong, but by how many are equipped to build, lead, and scale solutions that shape Africa’s future from the frontlines of innovation.
