Standard Chartered Revives Women in Tech Accelerator in Egypt with $35K Grants

Abdelrahman Amr

Last updated 23-08-2026

4 min

Standard Chartered revives Egypt’s Women in Tech Accelerator for a second round in 2026.

Twelve women-led startups will get mentorship, training and business support to scale.

Three winners will share $35,000 in equity-free grants at the programme’s end.

Last cohort saw 240 applications; supported firms gained customers, jobs and $2.

7 million revenue.

The scheme tackles Egypt’s “funding gap” and weak access to mentoring and networks.

Standard Chartered Foundation is bringing back its Women in Tech Accelerator in Egypt for a second round in 2026, this time with Village Capital and Entlaq again joining the effort to back women-led tech startups that are ready to grow. The new cohort will support 12 startups through business development help, investment readiness training and tailored mentorship, with three winners set to receive equity-free grants worth a total of $35,000 by the end of the programme.

The accelerator is aimed at women-led, technology-enabled startups that have already shown some market validation and are now looking to scale. In Egypt, the programme will be delivered by Entlaq, which has built a name around entrepreneurship support and wider ecosystem building. For readers at Arageek, that kind of nuts-and-bolts support often matters more than the flashy slogans, and I reckon this is where many programmes either shine or become a bit of a faff.

Mohamed Gad, Chief Executive Officer and Head of Coverage at Standard Chartered Egypt, said women-led technology businesses are taking a bigger role in Egypt’s innovation economy by bringing new ideas to market and opening fresh paths for growth. He said the accelerator is meant to help that potential scale by giving founders access to skills, networks and support that can strengthen their businesses. Gad also pointed to the first Egypt cohort, which drew 240 applications and supported 11 startups through more than 35 training sessions, alongside over 40 mentorship sessions and roundtables.

With the second edition, he said, the focus is on backing more women-led tech startups and helping founders sharpen their capabilities, widen their networks and become more investment-ready, giving them a stronger base to grow and contribute further to Egypt’s innovation scene.

There is also some early proof that the model is having an effect. Yazmin Jumaali, Senior Programme Manager at Village Capital, said the 2025 Women in Tech cohort helped show what can happen when women founders get the right backing. According to her, those startups reached nearly 16,000 new customers, created more than 430 jobs and generated an additional $2.7 million in revenue. She said Village Capital is looking forward to welcoming a new group of founders into its community and supporting them as they build and scale.

Aya Ismail, Co-Founder and Programmes Director at Entlaq, framed the programme as part of a bigger gap in the market rather than just another startup initiative. She said empowering women entrepreneurs needs an integrated system that brings together capacity building, mentorship, investment readiness, and access to business and investor networks. That said, the sharper point came from Entlaq’s own Women in Entrepreneurship Report 2025, which she referenced as the first data-driven assessment of women’s entrepreneurship in Egypt. The report found that women-led startups still receive only a very small share of venture funding, while also facing an estimated $2.2 billion funding gap and weaker access to specialised mentoring and professional networks.

Ismail said the accelerator is meant to turn those research findings into something practical, not just sit them on a shelf. Well, I mean, that is probably the bit that stands out most. Plenty of reports are spot on in diagnosis, but fewer are translated into structured support that founders can actually use on the ground. In her view, the programme addresses the real needs of women founders and helps them build businesses that are more competitive, scalable and ready for investment.

The Egypt edition is part of a wider global push. Standard Chartered’s Women in Tech Accelerator says it has supported more than 4,000 women across 17 markets since it began. This year alone, the programme has allocated over $600,000 in grant funding for entrepreneurs across 12 markets, with Egypt’s cohort competing for the $35,000 in equity-free cash prizes at Demo Day.

Applications are now open for women startup founders based in Egypt. Those selected will take part in the accelerator from September to December this year. For early-stage founders trying to crack growth in a market that can be tough and, lets be honest, sometimes uneven, this may be one of the more practical doors to knock on. Full details and eligibility criteria are available through Standard Chartered Egypt’s Women in Tech page.

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