Seedstars Launches Program to Support African Women-Led Startups

By: GWL team | Wednesday, 26 November 2025

Seedstars and SANAD TAF launched the SANAD Elevate Her Programme
It supports women-led startups in the Middle East, North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa

Seedstars has teamed up with Sanad Technical Assistance Facility (TAF) to launch SANAD Elevate Her—a multi-phased program to support women-led businesses in accordance with the structure of the 2X Challenge for the MENA, Sub-Saharan & North Africa Regions.

This program will address the $42 billion of unmet financing needs of many women entrepreneurs and will help alleviate many of the roadblocks women entrepreneurs face when trying to access financial resources, market their business, build and expand their business, and create and develop supportive professional and personal networks.

Seedstars is a global company based in Switzerland that operates in over 90 countries offering various services including training, mentoring, and investing in early-phase startups.

The SANAD TAF facility creates and implements projects aimed at promoting entrepreneurship and economic inclusion in the MENA and Sub-Saharan Africa region with a focus on supporting women and youth specifically.

The Elevate Her Program will actively engage 40 out of the top 40 most promising startups through organized acceleration, supportive technical assistance, and preparation for investment readiness.

This program will also take steps necessary in preparing women founders with the resources and tools they need to build viable and scalable companies through strong local entrepreneurial ecosystems, creating jobs in their regions.

It must be 100 percent female-owned, and its operations should be aligned with the criteria of the 2X Challenge to be eligible. Priority sectors include but are not limited to: sustainability, agrifinance, and fintech.

The list of countries that can join the Elevate Her Programme includes Algeria, Egypt, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Rwanda, Senegal, Tunisia, Uganda, and Yemen.