Standard Chartered Foundation launches 2026 ‘Women in Tech’ Accelerator in Egypt

Standard Chartered Foundation, in partnership with Entlaq and Village Capital, announced today the launch of the second edition of the Women in Tech Accelerator in Egypt.

The 2026 cohort will support 12 technology start-ups led by women through investment readiness training, business development support and tailored mentorship, with three winners receiving equity-free grant funding totalling USD 35,000 at the end of the programme.

The programme is designed for Women led technology enabled start-ups that have demonstrated market validation and are ready to scale. It will be delivered in Egypt by Entlaq, drawing on its expertise in entrepreneurship support and ecosystem building.

Mohamed Gad, Chief Executive Officer and Head of Coverage, Standard Chartered Egypt, said:

“Women-led technology businesses are playing an increasingly important role in Egypt’s innovation economy, bringing new ideas to market and creating new avenues for growth.

The Women in Tech Accelerator is designed to help that potential scale by providing founders with access to the skills, networks and support needed to strengthen their businesses.

In its first cohort, the Egypt programme attracted 240 applications and supported 11 start-ups through over 35 training sessions and more than 40 mentorship sessions and roundtables.

With this second edition, we are building on that foundation by supporting more women-led technology start-ups. Our focus is on helping founders strengthen their capabilities, expand their networks and become more investment ready, giving them a stronger platform to grow their businesses and contribute to Egypt’s innovation economy.”

Yazmin Jumaali, Senior Programme Manager, Village Capital, said:

“The results from our 2025 Women in Tech cohort demonstrate the transformative impact of backing women entrepreneurs. Together, these founders reached nearly 16,000 new customers, created more than 430 jobs, and generated an additional USD 2.7 million in revenue. We are excited to welcome this new group of women founders into our growing community and support them as they build, scale and drive lasting impact.”

Aya Ismail, Co-Founder and Programmes Director at Entlaq, added:

“We are proud to deliver the Egypt edition of the Women in Tech Accelerator in partnership with Standard Chartered Foundation and Village Capital. We believe that empowering women entrepreneurs requires an integrated ecosystem that combines capacity building, mentorship, investment readiness, and access to business and investment networks.

This programme is a natural extension of Entlaq’s mission to build a more inclusive, evidence-based entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Our Women in Entrepreneurship Report 2025, the first data-driven assessment of women entrepreneurship in Egypt, found that women-led start-ups continue to receive only a very small share of available venture funding while facing an estimated US$2.2 billion funding gap, alongside limited access to specialised mentoring and professional networks.

Accordingly, this programme is not simply another initiative supporting women entrepreneurs. Rather, it translates research findings and evidence into practical action by transforming policy insights into a structured programme that addresses the real needs of women founders, enabling them to build more investment-ready, competitive, and scalable businesses.”

The Standard Chartered Women in Tech Accelerator builds on a strong global track record, having supported over 4,000 women across 17 markets since inception. This year, the programme has allocated more than USD 600,000 in grant funding to entrepreneurs across 12 markets, with the Egypt cohort competing for equity-free cash prizes totalling USD 35,000 at Demo Day.

Women start-up founders based in Egypt are invited to apply now. Successful applicants will participate in the Accelerator between September and December this year. Full details and eligibility criteria are available at