FirstCheck Africa: Eloho Omame and Odun Eweniyi are Funding African Women in Tech

When it comes to funding, so much has been said about the gender gap in the tech industry, with little being done about it. 

According to McKinsey’s Women Matter Africa report of 2016, only 5% of tech companies’ CEOs in Africa were women, while 29% of senior managers were women. It also stated that only 36% of organisational promotions were awarded to women

While there are many reasons for the gender chasm in the tech industry, access to funding remains one of the biggest challenges women entrepreneurs in Africa face.

The industry’s ever-increasing financing gap remains the top factor responsible for women’s invisibility, and to a large extent, the male dominance in the industry.

In a TechCabal report on Nigerian Women in Tech, Funmi Adewara, founder/ CEO, MobiHealth, said, “The difficulty of raising capital is one of the biggest hurdles female entrepreneurs across Nigeria and Africa face. It is six times harder to secure funding than it is for our male counterparts due to cultural and societal barriers that limit a woman’s access to financial capital…”

Thankfully, Eloho Omame and Odun Eweniyi are reshaping the tech industry in Africa by putting their money where their mouth is through FirstCheck Africa.

FirstCheck Africa is a female-led angel fund that invests “ridiculously early” in women in African tech. Its vision and mission are to make it easier for women in Africa to raise venture-backed capital and invest in technology startups and to advance equity, capital, and leadership for a generation of women in Africa.

Meet the women building FirstCheck Africa:

Eloho Omame

Eloho Omame is a business leader, investor, and the Managing Director of Endeavor Nigeria (an entrepreneurship network for high-impact founders leading high-growth technology companies at the scaleup stage). She is an early-stage investor and an advocate for gender and inclusion in technology, and entrepreneurship in Africa.

Odunayo Eweniyi

Odun Eweniyi is the co-founder/Chief Operating Officer of PiggyVest (PiggyVest is the first online “Savings & Investment” app in West Africa). She’s also the co-founder of the Feminist Coalition and a co-creator of @wineandwhineng. 

Eloho and Odun believe that “fixing capital access for female tech entrepreneurs in Africa needs an intentional, female-led approach.” FirstCheck Africa plans to invest up to $25,000 each in women in Africa with bold, entrepreneurial ideas.

Eloho, in her launch announcement yesterday on Twitter, said that over the course of the year, they’ll be planning FirstCheck Africa information sessions, AMAs, and educational events about tech and early-stage investing. 

Congratulations to Eloho and Odun!

We are excited to see a female-focused angel fund taking the lead to fix gender inequality in the tech industry. 

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Featured Image: Photo by PICHA Stock from Pexels

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