10 Women Tech Founders in West Africa Building AI Startups & Shaping the Future

7. Mary Mmoh – Nigeria

Founder, Marex Ventures

AI-driven business automation products are currently being developed by Mary Mmoh using the platform of Marex Ventures that is based in Nigeria. She founded this company in 2019 as a digital marketing company before venturing into customized software, automation, and SaaS products after realizing their costliness and inefficiencies.

• Built software without a formal computer-science background

• Develops AI automation systems for businesses

• Trains entrepreneurs in practical AI adoption

One such custom solution allowed her client to save about ₦1.7 million on development costs and encouraged Mmoh to scale up Marex Ventures to include tech solutions. Among the products offered by the firm are an AI Workflow Architect and business operation systems.

She brings a new perspective to the issue of AI startups run by women in Nigeria. Her example proves that AI entrepreneurship does not have to be done by typical software engineers. Mary is creating automation solutions for businesses and training professionals in AI.

Also Read: 7 African Women Founders using AI to Solve Localized Challenges

8. Kim Tran – Côte d'Ivoire

Co-Founder & CEO, Trenderz

Kim Tran launched Trenderz in Abidjan in 2024, with a business model focused on using influencer marketing for tourism and leisure businesses. However, the business evolved into creating infrastructure for booking and attribution, thereby facilitating the linking of creator recommendations to bookings.

• Builds technology for the creator economy

• Uses data to connect recommendations with bookings

• Operates across multiple African markets

The platform known as Trenderz is currently referred to as an AI-driven booking and attribution platform for hospitality and tourism, where the creators' content is turned into monetizable business.

Another reason why Kim deserves praise is that she shifted from France to Côte d'Ivoire and established her company in Abidjan following several years of experience in influencer marketing. In 2026, Trenderz had over 6,000 recommenders and 900 establishments in five markets, said Kim.

9. Vèna Arielle Ahouansou – Benin

Co-Founder & CEO, Kea Medicals

Vèna Arielle Ahouansou is a Beninese physician and businesswoman who started Kea Medicals in 2017 following her realization of preventable deaths that could be associated with lack of information about the patients. The firm utilizes digital innovations to develop universal health identities and networks for health institutions such that medical practitioners can easily get patient information.

• Built digital health infrastructure in Benin

• Uses universal IDs for medical records

• Founded Kea Medicals as a young doctor

Kea Medicals is not a tech-first company, but Vèna should be included in a larger list of innovative young African women who are founding businesses based on pressing issues in their communities using technological means. She has been identified by the UN Trade and Development as one of the advocates for eTrade for Women.

She exemplifies how African women in the field of technology use digital tools to tackle health access issues.

10. Diana Rashida Rashid – The Gambia

Co-Founder, Perculiar AI

Diana Rashida Rashid is a budding social entrepreneur from The Gambia with passions in community development, food systems, and technology. Diana is the founder of PreSERVE Foods, a social enterprise working on post-harvest losses, and the co-founder of Perculiar AI.

• Combines technology with social impact

• Co-founded an emerging AI venture

• Works across The Gambia and Ghana

Diana’s experience is not that of founders who operate AI ventures on a larger scale. Rashid’s tech venture is new and very little information is available regarding Perculiar AI. Rashid thus offers an excellent case study of how women founders of startups enter the continent’s tech industry as opposed to technology executives.

In addition, Diana’s entrepreneurial path is indicative of the changing definitions of technology, agriculture and community development in West Africa. By incorporating existing economic and social problems, startups founded by women in small ecosystems like The Gambia, can gain access to the continent’s emerging digital economy through AI technology.

What The Rise of Women Tech & AI Founders in West Africa Means?

The emergence of women in artificial intelligence and technology in West Africa is taking place amid an ever-present gender disparity in entrepreneurship and startup investment. The statistics reveal both the upside and downside: women are part of the founding teams of 19.2% of African startups in 2026, but just 12.1% are founded by female CEOs.

Among the featured founders is the heterogeneity of this pipeline in progress. Charlette N'Guessan works in the field of AI and digital identity; Marie-Reine Seshie leverages AI for informal retail; Stéphanie Nama builds multilingual AI to combat health misinformation; Juliet Duru employs AI in agriculture and education; and others build products in areas such as automation, healthcare, AI governance, and hospitality.

These companies also serve to illustrate another key aspect of African AI start-ups in the fact that many are being developed with the consideration for regional realities like local language use, limited bandwidth, informal economies, and unmet needs in healthcare and other areas.

To African women tech entrepreneurs and leaders of the future, these women demonstrate the fact that creating technology in West Africa doesn’t have to involve replicating Silicon Valley solutions but can mean innovating around locally-specific problems.