Female-Only VC firm ShEquity Plans West African Fund & Accelerator

Female-focused VC firm ShEquity is launching the ShEquity West Africa VC Fund and the ShEquity Business Accelerator (SHEBA), offering female founders funding as well as venture building and technical support.

Launched this year to help reduce the US$42 billion gender funding gap in Africa, ShEquity combines cash investment, structured technical support and access to high value networks.

So far it has invested in three companies – Kenyan insect-based feed manufacturer Ecodudu, Kenyan data and AI startup Superfluid Labs, and Zambia’s WidEnergy, a last mile distributor of clean, reliable, and affordable energy solutions.

The company plans to scale its impact in 2021, and with this in mind is launching a West Africa VC Fund and an associated accelerator, SHEBA. Headquartered in Accra, Ghana, SHEBA will work with female entrepreneurs to help them grow their businesses and create pipeline for the fund.

“Through SHEBA, we plan to onboard 30 female entrepreneurs each year, who will receive venture building and technical support. Of these, qualifying entrepreneurs will receive investment from our VC fund. Our goal is to build an investment ecosystem which unlocks the potential of African female entrepreneurs,” Pauline Koelbl, founder and managing partner at ShEquity, told Disrupt Africa.

“We are interested in innovative, sustainable and impactful businesses that can generate revenue within one year, and we focus on the following sectors – natural resources, the digital economy and fintechs, the hospitality and service industry, agriculture, healthcare, and FMCGs.”