Standard Chartered Bahrain Fuels Female Startups with SC Women in Tech 2025

Editorial Team

Last updated 11-04-2025

3 min

Standard Chartered Bahrain launched the sixth edition of "SC Women in Tech" starting 22 April 2025.

The programme aims to support female entrepreneurs in Bahrain through partnerships with key institutions.

Over 50 women-led startups benefited in the past, with significant funding granted.

This year, ten teams will receive training, networking opportunities, and prize money up to USD 35,000.

A new collaboration involves QuickDine and Payment International Enterprise to enhance payment services.

Standard Chartered Bahrain, along with Bahrain FinTech Bay, recently kicked off the sixth edition of its well-loved initiative, "SC Women in Tech", scheduled to begin on 22 April 2025. Marking its sixth year, the programme continues to champion the ambitions of female entrepreneurs throughout the Bahraini community.

This impactful venture brings together a host of influential partners, including the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB), the Labour Fund Tamkeen, Bahrain’s Supreme Council for Women (SCW), the UNIDO Investment and Technology Promotion Office, and Innovate for Bahrain (I4BH). Together, they're looking to build upon the strong foundations already established, helping women-run startups to flourish.

At the recent launch event, several prominent figures showed their support. Among them were Dr Boutros Klink, the Chief Executive Officer at Standard Chartered Bahrain; Ms Afnan Rashid Al-Zayani, board member at the Supreme Council for Women; Suzy Al Zeerah, COO of Bahrain FinTech Bay; Maryam Rahimi from Tamkeen; and Ameer Abu Baker, representing UNIDO ITPO Bahrain.

The programme is known for giving women-led startups intensive, practical training over eight productive weeks. Participants receive guidance from seasoned industry professionals and can tap into a supportive community of past alumni, who’ve already experienced the ups and downs of entrepreneurship—sharing insights and anecdotes to help newcomers avoid reinventing the wheel.

Over the past six years, "SC Women in Tech" has helped nurture more than 50 female-founded startups in the country. Out of these, 19 standout businesses have collectively received funding approximating USD 305,000—capital which has earned them considerable leverage in scaling their innovative ventures.

This year, ten fresh teams will benefit from similar opportunities, taking part in focused workshops and networking sessions tailored to refine and supercharge their business strategies. At the programme’s culmination, the winning teams will earn a financial boost, with USD 35,000 awarded to the team placed first, USD 25,000 to second-place winners, and USD 15,000 going to the third-place finishers. Moreover, all winners will also gain a generous three-month residency at Bahrain FinTech Bay, enabling them to further grow their businesses in an environment buzzing with innovation.

An exciting extra announcement at this year's launch saw QuickDine—a local startup alumni from the previous cohort—partnering strategically with the fintech experts at Payment International Enterprise (PIE). This collaboration will help optimise QuickDine's services, utilising PIE's payment tech nous to offer customers safer, faster, and broader ways to settle their bills.

Initiatives like this, which combine intensive mentoring, community building, and practical investment, undoubtedly make "SC Women in Tech" a highly impactful programme. One can see exactly why local entrepreneurs are already itching to be part of the next groupe. Arageek readers who've been following the region's startup scene have seen this incubation programme growing stronger each year, proving its worth in aiding Bahrain’s talented pool of female entrepreneurs to thrive.

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