The Standard Chartered Women in Tech programme, which Saudi Arabia’s Falak Investment Hub started, gave three female-led startups in Saudi Arabia a total of $50,000 in cash prizes without giving them any stock.
First place went to Sahm, which got $25,000; second place went to Nqoodlet, which took home $15,000; and third place went to Chefaa, which took home $10,000.
The programme aims to help female entrepreneurs build digital businesses that can grow and help Saudi Arabia’s attempts to diversify its economy. At first, a group of judges chose eight entrepreneurs from the fintech, health tech, protech, and edutainment industries to participate in an eight-week incubator programme.
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Mazen Al Bunyan, CEO of Standard Chartered Saudi Arabia, said, “Saudi women have shown amazing ability during this 8-week programme.” We’re proud to have helped Saudi Vision 2030’s commercial start-ups go digital. We successfully launched SC Women in Tech in Saudi Arabia as part of our global effort. Saudi Arabia has become our eighth market to offer this opportunity.
All of the startups that took part in the programme learned about how to be businesses and got help and mentoring. The Standard Chartered team helped with their knowledge of financial services. Falak’s large network of investors, mentors, and industry experts was used in the relationship.
Adwa AlDakheel, CEO of Falak Investment Hub, said, “We are happy to say that our innovative Women in Tech programme with Standard Chartered Bank has ended. The idea for the programme was to help female founders in the tech business in MENA, with a focus on KSA.
She also thanked their partner, Standard Chartered, for the help and advice they gave the startups just starting.
Since 2014, the SC Women in Technology programmes have been running in ten countries, including the US, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, the UAE, Bahrain, Ghana, Korea, Zambia, and Saudi Arabia. Since the programme started, a total of $1.4 million has been spent on it, and more than 2,600 women have taken part in it.
Women in Tech
Over the past few years, there has been a rise in the number of women working in technology around the world. But guys still do most of the work in tech. According to UNWTO reports, women founded 34% of tech-focused startups in the Arab world. Recent statistics show that in Saudi Arabia, more women work in the technology startup business than in Europe.
According to a new report from Endeavour Insight, women in Saudi Arabia are more likely to start their own tech businesses than men. These studies show that the Saudi government wants to give women more power and give them more opportunities to work in business.