Egypt Women in Tech Accelerator Selects 12 Female-Led Startups

Standard Chartered Foundation has collaborated with Entlaq and Village Capital to offer the second iteration of the Women in Tech Accelerator program in Egypt. The participants of the 2026 cohort will be selected from among 12 women-founded tech companies, which will be provided with investment readiness training, mentoring services and other business development assistance during the program.

A total amount of USD 35,000 grant funding will be awarded to three selected startups that dispaly great potential at the end of the program. The funding aims to provide financial assistance to talented enterprises in their journey of developing without having to give up any shares in their ventures.

Key Highlights:

• 12 women-led Egyptian tech startups to join 2026 accelerator cohort
• Three startups will receive USD 35,000 in equity-free grant funding
• Programme offers investment readiness, mentorship and business growth support

The project aims at assisting the participating startups to transition from demonstrated market viability to sustainable growth. Founders of the startups will be advised on how to build investment readiness, improve business strategy and overcome the challenges of scaling up. Mentorship services will be offered as well to assist women entrepreneurs to make sound choices while growing their ventures.

The program is aimed at women-led tech companies that have already gained market acceptance and are ready to scale. Entlaq is tasked with implementing the program in Egypt based on its experience of creating entrepreneurs' ecosystems.

Aya Ismail, Co-Founder and Programmes Director, Entlaq commented, “We are proud to deliver the Egypt edition of the Women in Tech Accelerator in partnership with Standard Chartered Foundation and Village Capital. We believe that empowering women entrepreneurs requires an integrated ecosystem that combines capacity building, mentorship, investment readiness, and access to business and investment networks. This programme is a natural extension of Entlaq’s mission to build a more inclusive, evidence-based entrepreneurship ecosystem. Our Women in Entrepreneurship Report 2025, the first data-driven assessment of women entrepreneurship in Egypt, found that women-led start-ups continue to receive only a very small share of available venture funding while facing an estimated US$2.2 billion funding gap, alongside limited access to specialised mentoring and professional networks.”

She also stated that the program exceeds traditional forms of assistance to women entrepreneurs. It translates the findings of research and knowledge into action-oriented plans based on the insights gathered from the policy and develops them into a plan that addresses the unique demands of women entrepreneurs. In this way, it assists organizations in improving their investment readiness and competitiveness.

Standard Chartered Women in Tech Accelerator takes advantage of the already established international platform that aims at empowering women entrepreneurs within the tech industry. Since its inception, it has benefited more than 4,000 women entrepreneurs from 17 different countries.

In 2026, the financial aid provided will be increased, with over USD 600,000 worth of grants distributed among entrepreneurs in 12 different markets. Such funds will allow the chosen founders to receive extra financing for growing their businesses without transferring any equity in the process.