In the last couple of years, Kenya has been dubbed the African Silicon Valley owing to the meteoric rise of start-ups led by both men and women.
Three different reports have placed Kenya among top four African countries where start-ups and businesses in general are highly likely to thrive. In 2021, the start-ups raised a combined sum of Ksh49 billion, according to TechCrunch, a business publication.
A report by Partech ranked Kenya third in start-up funding after the investors pumped in Ksh64 billion within 12 months. The report placed Kenya behind Nigeria and South Africa.
Another report, Briter Bridges, however, placed Kenya in the fourth position behind Nigeria, South Africa and Egypt for 2021. The report, however, failed to offer investment figures per region.
Disrupt Africa, a tech publication for Africa, also released a report on February 4 that showed that start-ups on the continent raised more funding in 2021 than in any other year in history.
Kenya was also ranked fourth behind Nigeria, Egypt and South Africa in that order with a total of 87 start-ups.
The three reports, however, maintained that although 2021 saw a spike in the number of women-led start-ups that secured funding, the ratio to male-led counterparts was minute.
Briter Bridges pegged the number of women-led start-ups at 15 per cent in 2020 and failed to give a significant ratio in 2021.
"3.2% of African VC total funding and 8.2% of deals have gone to all-female co-founded teams since it started keeping track in 2013," read a report by Briter Bridges.
Partech, on the other hand, placed the percentage of investments raised by female-founded startups at 14% in 2020. The number increased to 16% in 2021.
"According to the publication, female-founded start-ups received 18% of African VC funding. When narrowed down to just all-female founders, the number is 1%," read a verdict by TechCrunch.
Reasons for Slow Funding
According to Inc Africa Magazine, many investors unconsciously bypass businesses owned by women although the gender accounts for 58% of all entrepreneurs on the continent.
Investors believe that backing women is riskier than their male counterparts although no evidence has been presented to support the assertion.
"Bias among investors on what makes a strong entrepreneur. These biases impact their decision-making. There are certain alpha male traits that investors have identified as signs of strong leadership, including the ability to be very dominant and oversell yourself," the publication quoted Andreata Muforo, a partner at TLcom Capital.
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