DigiFemmes Entrepreneurs

About the program

DigiFemmes Entrepreneur is a program implemented by the consortium partners SAFEEM, Seedstars Côte d’Ivoire, Empow’Her Côte d’Ivoire, Dalberg, and Edu01. The program is funded by the U.S. government’s USAID and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), in partnership with Microsoft.

DigiFemmes Entrepreneurs aims to equip 50 Ivorian women entrepreneurs based in Abidjan or San Pedro with data and digital technology skills for their businesses and build their entrepreneurial capacity over a 9-month period to enable them to reach an appropriate level of maturity.

How the program works
The selected candidates will benefit from 6 months of incubation and 3 months of acceleration.

6 months of incubation
The first six months are devoted to experimentation to validate the essential elements for creating and growing companies.

Participants choose from a library of experimentation methodologies and will adapt the suggested experiments to their needs. They will then experiment and analyze the results to determine what pivots or iterations are needed.

Each month, an investment committee will meet and invite them to present their progress and knowledge with a group of seasoned investors and experts.

Throughout the process, they will be supported by the Seedstars mentor network and its “experimentation gurus” who will help them design scientifically robust experiments.

This phase will take place from October 2022 to March 2023.

3 months of acceleration.
Once they have validated the experiments and found a product-market fit, they will join the accelerator program for the final three months.

The accelerator program is designed to help them through the “valley of death” of startups and prepare them for fundraising.

They will continue to experiment, and receive additional personalized coaching, fundraising documentation support, and investor connections.

This phase will take place from April 2023 to June 2023.

Eligibility Criteria

• Be a woman based in Abidjan or San Pedro
• Be a founder or co-founder of an enterprise/business
• Have already generated revenue with her business
• Be interested in integrating digital and data into her decision making

Benefits of the program

• A 100% free program
• Capacity building (High quality training to acquire the most important digital and data skills to run and grow a business)
• Personalized support
• One-on-one mentoring
• Access to the Seedstars community
• Connections to investors
• Integration into a recognized community of women entrepreneurs
• A coworking space to work with modern equipment in an inspiring and collaborative learning environment.