José Viñals, Group Chairman, Standard Chartered PLC paid a two-day working visit to Ghana. As part of his visit, he had a fireside chat with 5 female start-ups who are beneficiaries of the Standard Chartered Women in Technology incubator programme. These entrepreneurs have great innovations that have the potential to transform and propel Ghana’s future economic prospects.

Sharing their stories, the female entrepreneurs shared their eureka moments that led them to start their businesses. They all identified a social need that affected people’s lives and have proffered solutions to tackle these problems and turned this into a business. The businesses are

1. Soko Bags is a producer of eco-friendly reusable bags from cotton and jute fibre.

2. Reecoplast who transforms plastic waste into high-quality pavement blocks,

3. Sabon Sake a provider of regenerative solutions that tackle degraded soils for farming,

4. Farmio specializing in greenhouse farming systems, increasing productivity and revenue for farmers and,

5. Kodu Technology produces of eco-friendly sanitary towels using bananas and plantain fiber.

Mr. Vinals in addressing the start-ups compared them to the businesses in Silicon Valley and stated that the common denominator was innovation. He commended the ladies for being innovative in tackling indigenous problems that are peculiar to Ghana, starting businesses to create jobs, and tackling unemployment in the process.

stated that the bank lives by its brand promise here for good and as sustainability was one of the bank’s pillars, he was proud of how dreams had been turned into reality and how the bank was supporting female-led businesses to improve lives.

Ms. Ruka Sanusi, Executive Director of the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre, the implementers of the programme, who was part of the session added that policy and advocacy were critical in ensuring that small businesses can be sustained to create jobs, provide livelihoods, and reduce poverty.

The Standard Chartered Women in Technology Incubator

As a bank, we believe that empowering women-owned businesses is crucial in driving Ghana’s economic development and accelerating progress toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Standard Chartered Women in Tech (SC WiT) Incubator programme is an important part of the Bank’s entrepreneurship offering within Futuremakers, the global initiative aimed at tackling inequality and promoting economic inclusion. The SC WiT incubator was launched in Ghana in November 2020.

Since the launch 34 female-owned start-ups have gone through the incubator with 10 receiving a cedi equivalent of $10,000 to scale up their businesses. The businesses span several industries including agriculture, e-commerce, construction, and technology among others.

The programme is timely as it supports female entrepreneurs and speaks to Ghana’s economic and education agenda of ensuring employment through entrepreneurship and actively advocating for girls in ICT.

With the WiT incubator, we are providing the platform for women-owned and led businesses to tap into opportunities offered by technology adaptation to enable their businesses to thrive in a digital world, one business at a time.