Seedstars and the SANAD Fund for MSME have launched the SANAD ElevateHer Program, a new initiative aimed at supporting women-led and gender-inclusive startups across the Middle East, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. The programme will select around 40 high-potential startups for investment-readiness training, mentorship, technical support and access to investor networks.
The initiative is funded through the SANAD Fund’s Technical Assistance Facility and delivered by Seedstars, which has run entrepreneurship programmes in more than 70 emerging markets. ElevateHer focuses on tech-enabled ventures in sectors such as fintech, agritech, climate and health, and is designed to address the financing and capacity gaps faced by women founders in the region.
A response to a deep gender-funding gap
Women-led startups across Africa and MENA face a significant funding deficit, estimated at more than USD 42 billion. Limited investor access, capacity constraints and structural barriers make it difficult for many women founders to scale or secure institutional capital.
ElevateHer targets this gap directly. It is not a broad entrepreneurship training effort but a focused investment-readiness programme for high-growth, tech-enabled ventures. The model blends Seedstars’ technical acceleration approach with SANAD’s gender-lens investing framework. It also aligns with standards like the 2X Challenge, which sets criteria for women’s inclusion and leadership.
For emerging markets, this signals growing institutional interest in building gender-inclusive innovation pipelines and preparing women-led ventures for regional or global expansion.
The ecosystems that benefit first
The programme’s primary beneficiaries are women founders and gender-inclusive startups across MENA and Sub-Saharan Africa. Startup ecosystems in hubs such as Lagos, Nairobi, Cairo, Tunis, Amman and Casablanca are likely to see increased visibility and investor access for founders who are often overlooked despite strong potential.
Impact investors, gender-lens funds, accelerators and development agencies will also track the programme to identify scalable ventures and assess whether this model can be expanded across new sectors or regions.
How the programme unfolds from here
Applications for this cycle close on 26 November 2025. After the deadline, Seedstars and SANAD will shortlist around 40 ventures for the programme. Selected startups will take part in structured investment-readiness training, targeted mentorship and technical support designed to strengthen traction and funding pathways.
The programme is expected to culminate in a demo-day or investor-matching event, giving founders direct access to regional and international investors. Seedstars and SANAD will later publish cohort results, including funding secured, revenue progress and job creation, to determine whether ElevateHer becomes a recurring model for gender-inclusive startup acceleration.
