Why We’re Still Spotlighting Women Founders in 2025

Ogheneruno Etowe -

It’s 2025, and some might wonder: haven’t we moved past this? Are we still spotlighting women in tech and innovation? Haven’t we done enough? The honest answer is simple: no, we haven’t.

Yes, more women are stepping up and building incredible ventures. Yes, you see more diverse faces on panels and investment portfolios. We’ve made progress, but the systemic gaps remain. For every headline we celebrate, thousands of talented women are still building in silence, often overlooked by funders, underestimated by institutions, and too frequently ignored by the very systems meant to champion innovation.

For every woman who builds, a girl is watching. Maybe she’s in Benue, Borno, Tamale, Ghana, or Goma, DRC. She has a dream, a prototype in her head, and an idea scribbled on paper. And when she sees other women breaking through, she sees proof that she can, too.

The truth is, gender still determines access in Africa’s innovation ecosystem. Only 2.4% of startup funding in Africa in 2023 went to all-women founding teams. Globally, women-only teams received just 1.9% of venture capital in 2022. Even in mixed-gender teams, women receive smaller equity stakes and face more scrutiny at fundraising stages.

When women are shut out, entire markets go underserved, and communities lose access to solutions designed by those closest to the problems, generations of girls lose the belief that they’re included in the future of innovation.

Even with increasing startup formation among women, most still lack access to early-stage capital, technical mentorship, policy influence, and visibility.

A 2021 IFC report found that women-led businesses often outperform their peers financially, yet they face persistent bias during the funding process. These are foundational flaws in how innovation is supported and capital is distributed.

So what’s the point of spotlighting women? Visibility builds stories, stories build culture, and culture shapes how capital moves. When we tell the stories of women like Odunayo Eweniyi, who co-founded PiggyVest and redefined how young Africans save, or Temie Giwa-Tubosun, who built LifeBank to solve blood shortages and now leads digital health logistics across Africa, or Farida Bedwei, a tech founder in Ghana and advocate for people with disabilities, when we tell these stories, we’re not just applauding individual success; we’re creating reference points. We’re telling the next generation that it’s possible.

Moreover, when a woman leads a tech company or raises significant funding, she chips away at the myth that leadership in innovation belongs to men by default. Every time a woman is seen, it makes it easier for another to be heard. That’s the real return on visibility—it doesn’t end with one person.

Seeing someone who looks like you, comes from where you’re from, or faces similar odds changes how you view your potential. The lack of women in STEM today affects who builds tech companies tomorrow. Spotlighting successful women today will build a more diverse, resilient pipeline of innovators for the future.

Furthermore, this June at The Beta Collective’s Fireside Chat, we’re creating a space where African women founders can share their journeys openly, honestly, and in their own voices, not as a gesture of inclusion, but as a necessary act of redress.

So yes, we’re still spotlighting women in 2025, because until the playing field is truly level, visibility is no longer the exception, and every girl, regardless of where she’s from, knows there’s room for her at the table, we still have work to do.

Want to hear from the women breaking barriers and building Africa’s future?

Join us this Thursday as two of Africa’s finest founders, Leslie Ossete and Chinenye Ochem, share what the journey really looks like; the wins, the pivots, and the lessons no one talks about enough.

Thursday, 26th June, 2025
5:30PM – 6:30PM WAT
Sign Up Now

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