African female entrepreneurs’ primary obstacle is the lack of funding: Bayer Foundation

According to data from the Bayer Foundation, the biggest obstacle facing female entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa is a lack of capital.

By encouraging female entrepreneurs to commercialize their ideas and create significant social impact in Sub-Saharan Africa, the Bayer Foundation seeks to catalyze scientific and social innovation for a future with “health for all and hunger for none.”

Recently, it published a white paper that examined more than 500 submissions for its Women Empowerment Award in order to comprehend their difficulties. The revelations provided new information on how to create supportive systems that will encourage female entrepreneurs to scale their innovation while also assisting them in overcoming their particular hurdles.

“The answers and insights provided by the female entrepreneurs from 35 countries in the application form were extremely vivid and enlightening – their voices need to be heard by a broader audience. Also, by analysing the applications, we hope to extract insights as objectively as possible to help build effective support mechanisms,” said Dr Monika Lessl, executive director of Bayer Foundation.

Despite the fact that there is still a significant funding gap for female entrepreneurs, the study found that this gap widens when it is considered in conjunction with other problems that female entrepreneurs face more frequently than male entrepreneurs, such as difficulties in networking, finding mentors, and in being taken seriously.

The white paper also revealed that one of the most important needs that female entrepreneurs have is the ability to get mentorship and assistance through networking. It might be challenging for female entrepreneurs to locate contacts and mentors with the necessary experience because there aren’t enough women in many industries.