REVEALED: Why Nigeria’s start-up ecosystem is masculine

The start-up ecosystem in Nigeria could be everything but feminine. That is notwithstanding that about 54 female CEOs are driving start-up businesses in the country.

Going by the funding attracted into the sector in 2022, the near insignificant percentage that accrue to female-led start-ups could make them fringe stakeholders when real conversation on the ecosystem is on the brunt burner.

Interestingly, the condition is not peculiar to Nigeria. In the whole of Africa, female-led start-ups are lagging behind.

A good number of reports and analyses have backed up this view. From the analysis by Disrupt Africa, on a database of 2,395 African tech startups, 230 are led by female CEOs, and 54 of these female CEOs are from Nigeria, as against their male counterparts who are 448..

In terms of funding, Disrupt Africa said in 2022, Nigerian startups raised $142,828,000 ($142.8 million), and out of that lot the female-led start-ups attracted just $24.1m.

Also another report, “Diversity Dividend: Exploring Gender Equality in the African Tech Ecosystem” showed that only 230 of 2,395 African tech startups representing 9.6 percent, have a female CEOs which attracted only 2.9 percent of the total funding in 2022.

Another report titled “Africa: The Big Deal” said in 2021, female founders raised only 1.4 percent while male founders received 87.5 percent of the total funding that came into Nigeria, with the remaining 21 percent going to gender-diverse teams.

It also noted that as of July 2022, female founders in Nigeria had received only 1.13 percent of the total funding.

The World Bank’s blog also hammered on the gender divide in the ecosystem, saying that only three percent of early-stage funding since 2013 has been to all-female founding teams, compared to 76 percent for all-male teams in Nigeria and other African nations.

However, some female Chief Executive Officers in the ecosystem are clamouring for a back to the drawing board strategy to balance the equation.

They have listed some of the possible causes and are also tinkering with possible solutions to lift their performances in the funding front.

From her experience, founder and CEO of an Agri-insurtech company, Izanu Africa, Comfort Onyaga, said: “Lack of business analysis costs us investor’s interest. You will see that when a woman has an idea, she runs with it with a passion whether or not she has the money. She just gets in there and wants to get started regardless of what lies ahead in terms of the cost implication.

“That was how I got into the start-up ecosystem as a founder. The male folks will rather have some sort of fall-back stream of incomes before making bold appearance on the stage but we don’t really do an analysis of the risks or what lies ahead before getting into the ecosystems; we just run with our passion.

“A male who has been saving money is likely to attract other friends. So from day one, they have all the resources that are needed for them to bootstrap and make that kind of significant traction to attract investors,” she added.

She however advised: “We need to go into the sector with the kind of understanding that the male folks have and also be armed with enough resources to be able to bootstrap human resources.

“Then, identify the right talents who are willing to volunteer their time, resources in that early stage in order to build a business case that makes it meaningful enough for investors to put in their money.

But, founder of Fintech for women in Nigeria, Shecluded, Ifeoma Uddoh, has a different worldview to the sharp divide. She believes there are unconscious bias and gender stereotypes within the investment and entrepreneurial ecosystem with preconceived notions that women-led ventures are riskier or less profitable. However, she added that aside the bias, women hardly get access to moneyed networks and connections that are crucial for securing funding.

Also speaking, founder of ARK, a prop-tech company that builds a comprehensive storage and inventory management solution, Mrs Doyin Abiola-Tobun, said that the gap is glaring but not peculiar to Nigeria.

She said: “As female founders, we need to consciously match positive strides in the area of addressing funding inequities with providing irrefutable value creating solutions for the marketplace. A continuously growing pipeline of deals from female founders who are committed to offering valuable solutions for critical problems is a necessity.

“It is incredibly important that we never lose sight of the fact that funding by nature chases the potential of exponential value” she said

However, she posited that even the best intentions on the part of institutional investors and VCs are not enough to level the playing field. “Although there is a prevalent narrative of the disadvantages faced by female founders, the challenges are not insurmountable. Female-led start-ups should access mentors and sponsors who offer invaluable guidance and direction and build communities, camaraderie that offer the value of pooled non-financial resources. I have personally benefited from each of these enabling factors” she added.

For Head of a programme, pre-seed stage technology agnostic companies in Africa, Madica, Mr. Emmanuel Adegboye, part of what is affecting female-led start-ups is the traditional view of leadership as a male-dominated field. Others are limited support; scarcity of female mentors and role models within the tech industry and challenges of work-life balance.

According to him, “From the foundation, insufficient encouragement for women to pursue tech careers, both in schools and at home, is a challenge which hampers their interest and participation in the tech industry. Efforts should focus on challenging stereotypes, promoting STEM education among young girls, and showcasing the diverse career opportunities available within the tech sector.”

He noted that Madica incorporates a structured program that is focused on helping startups achieve their set objectives over a 12 – 18 month period in a convenient way to ensure the right balance is struck to ensure founders have ample time to focus on executing their day to day tasks.