Standard Chartered Ghana Awards GH₵567,500 in Grants to 5 Women-Led Tech Ventures

Standard Chartered Bank Ghana PLC has awarded a total of GH₵567,500 in grants to five women-led businesses emerging from the sixth cohort of its Women in Tech Accelerator, providing each winner with GH₵113,500 to support expansion, technology adoption and operational development.
The awards were made at the graduation of Cohort 6 of the Standard Chartered Foundation Women in Tech Accelerator, which brought together 10 women entrepreneurs from different sectors and regions of Ghana.
The award winners are Edu3Dcation, WADMET, Verte Tower, SisiMarie and Porducare.
The programme, implemented in partnership with the Ghana Climate Innovation Centre (GCIC) is designed to address some of the constraints facing women entrepreneurs, including access to finance, business expertise, networks and markets.
Standard Chartered Bank Ghana PLC Chief Executive Officer Xorse Godzi said the programme has supported more than 80 women-led businesses in Ghana since its launch in 2020, with beneficiaries operating across areas including agritech, edutech, aquatech, construction and e-commerce.
He said the accelerator’s value extends beyond the funding component, as participating businesses receive practical training, mentorship and access to networks intended to improve their capacity to scale.
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“Many women entrepreneurs still face barriers to finance, expertise, networks and markets. The Women in Tech programme is helping to close those gaps through catalytic funding, practical business training, tailored mentorship and access to valuable networks,” Mr. Godzi said.
The latest cohort represents a broader effort to extend entrepreneurial support beyond Ghana’s main commercial centres.
According to GCIC Executive Director Pearl Esua-Mensah, the 10-member cohort included founders from the Upper East, North East, Savannah and Central regions, as well as women living with disabilities.
She said the geographical and social diversity of the cohort was deliberate, reflecting an effort to reach entrepreneurs who may have less access to the networks, capital and technology available in major business centres.
“This cohort set out to reach further than the ones before it, into regions and communities the accelerator had not yet touched,” Ms. Esua-Mensah said.
The six-month programme combined practical learning with dedicated portfolio management support, masterclasses, pitch preparation, a weeklong bootcamp and networking opportunities, equipping women-led, technology-driven businesses with the tools and resources they need to grow Participants received training covering areas including financial management, marketing, business strategy and digital tools before progressing to a final pitching stage.
The grants are expected to provide capital for specific operational investments rather than simply general working capital.
One of the recipients, Georgina Yaa Boamah of Verte Tower Limited, said her agritech company intends to use the funding to move from largely manual production of its locally designed hydroponic systems to machinery-assisted manufacturing.
Verte Tower develops sustainable vertical farming systems that allow households to grow fresh food using hydroponic technology. The systems can be deployed in locations including rooftops, backyards and open spaces and can incorporate solar power.
Ms. Boamah said the current manual production process makes it difficult to achieve uniformity across installations. Investment in machinery would allow the company to standardise cutting, measurements and other production processes.
“So, if we have our own machinery to do this, now we can have repeatable systems that are efficient everywhere that we place them,” she said.
Technology is central to the company’s operating model. Verte Tower uses sensors to collect information on outdoor growing conditions and intends to use the resulting data to improve recommendations to customers.
For GCIC, the focus on technology and climate-oriented businesses reflects a wider objective of developing enterprises capable of addressing environmental and economic challenges while creating commercial opportunities.
Ms. Esua-Mensah said the programme was built around the view that technology can help transform small businesses into scalable enterprises, while women entrepreneurs represent an underutilised source of economic activity.
Charterhouse Productions Chief Executive Officer Theresa Oparebea Ayoade, who delivered the keynote address, urged the graduates to treat the grants as growth capital rather than an endpoint.
“The real prize is the transformation. We have six months of learning, testing, funding, challenging your assumptions, and learning how to think more like business builders. Now, the real work begins,” she said.
She also cautioned the entrepreneurs against becoming overly attached to their initial business models as markets, technology and customer needs evolve.
“The business which stands today may not be the business you are running 10 years from now. Your markets will change. Technology will change. The customers will change. And you will too,” Ms. Ayoade said.
For Standard Chartered, the programme forms part of a longer-term approach to strengthening the ecosystem around women-led enterprises. Mr. Godzi said graduates should combine the opportunities created by the accelerator with stronger governance, financial discipline and responsible use of technology.
“Graduation is not the end of this journey; it is the start of an exciting new chapter. Keep building boldly, keep leading with purpose and keep turning your ideas into lasting impact,” he said.

Source: thebftonline.com