Darena Ventures successfully conducted its first 6 weeks online women entrepreneurs pre-accelerator program from 12 October 2023 to 16 December 2023. The program was specifically designed for female entrepreneurs in the informal sector in Zimbabwe and surrounding countries.
Here’s why we decided to embark on this journey.
According to a report from StartupBlink, Zimbabwe’s small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) sector is still young and is not ranked in the Global Startup Ecosystem Index 2023. However, 80-90 percent of Zimbabweans are engaged in informal economic activities, and the sector, which is also linked to supply chains and the formal economy, accounts for 40 percent of Zimbabwe’s GDP.
Unfortunately, women’s participation in Zimbabwe’s SME sector remains limited. A 2022 study exploring the obstacles to sustainable women’s entrepreneurship in Zimbabwe highlighted multiple challenges. These include insufficient entrepreneurial knowledge, inadequate collateral for securing financing, and a lack of market information.
Countries like Zimbabwe present a favorable environment for women to launch successful businesses. According to 2014 World Bank data, the country boasts one of Africa’s highest adult literacy rates at 89%, surpassing the global average of 86% in 2016 and considerably ahead of sub-Saharan Africa’s 64%. Additionally, mobile device penetration is robust, with 81 subscriptions per 100 residents. As the primary communication tool for Zimbabweans, these devices can be instrumental in enabling business operations.
We chose to not be spectators of these sad statistics but to foster women-owned businesses in Africa through actionable interventions. Our pre-accelerator program was designed to help them validate their business model, build customer traction, structure their organisation, acquire new skills, explore maximising social and environmental benefits with their business model, and become early-stage investment ready. The flexibility and accessibility of the online program made it an attractive option for a wide range of learners seeking to enhance their skills and knowledge.
Held over six weeks, the mandate of this program was to support the marginalised women in business from untapped African countries to formalise their businesses and address the solvable pressing challenges faced by early-stage businesses. This was following our company’s objective to offer guidance, mentorship, access to global networks, and financing to early-stage green businesses in untapped African countries.
Over 70 female entrepreneurs from Guinea, Nigeria, South Africa, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe signed up for the six-week program. The founders who were already operational or trying to figure out how to launch their business were from diverse sectors including Agriculture, Food supply, Business services consultancy, Engineering consultancy, health care, financial services, transport, and retail, and came together to learn through our virtual sessions.
The sessions were conducted by our volunteer subject matter experts from across the globe who provided hands-on practical lessons and tools in a simple-to-digest manner.
Without sound guidance on business practices, a startup can fail for avoidable reasons. After the Legal, Governance, and Intellectual Property session, one woman pointed out how the session was a profound revelation because as a small business, they had not been taking non-disclosure agreements seriously and she realized that she had been overly trusting and exposing her business to potential risks.
This is what Rutendo an events organiser from Zimbabwe had to say about the program “As entrepreneurs we have a lot to learn to run a solid business. These sessions are valid as they help us properly navigate the business world, making us professional business people.”
We firmly believe that our innovative approach, successful track record, and commitment to SME business empowerment will help close the knowledge gap.
We are excited to collaborate to make a meaningful impact on the growth and financial inclusion of women entrepreneurs in Africa and look forward to running similar programs in 2024 and beyond.
