Africas Female Founders Are Forced To Play A Rigged Game Investors Created Refuse To Fix

When Nour Emam, Co-Founder and CEO of Egyptian femtech platform Daleela by Motherbeing, recounts a moment from her entrepreneurship journey, it encapsulates the daily deep-seated challenges female founders face.

"One moment that sticks with me was during a pitch where, despite solid traction and user growth, an investor asked, 'But how do you know Arab women even want to talk about these topics?'" she tells WT.

This loaded question wasn't just about market validation, Emam says, but a subtle reminder of the systemic bias that boxes women, particularly those daring to disrupt sensitive sectors like women's health.

For Emam, a notable entrepreneur, doula and reproductive health activist whose company confronts taboo topics around sexual and reproductive health among women, the question was less about risk assessment and more about challenging centuries of silence and stigma surrounding women's bodies.

Africa is paradoxical. It leads the world in female entrepreneurial activity, with women representing 26 of total entrepreneurial endeavours. And yet, female-led startups remain grossly underfunded. In 2024, while male-led ventures attracted around USD 2 B, per one research, female-led startups secured a mere 2 of that.