Afrigather WomHub, a Cape City based mostly female-founder innovation and coworking area, has formally opened its doorways to the general public. The area goals to offer a supportive group and workspace for girls entrepreneurs, freelancers, and professionals.
Positioned within the coronary heart of Cape City, WomHub presents a fantastically designed and totally geared up coworking area with numerous facilities comparable to high-speed web, 3D printing, and scanning providers, assembly rooms, and workplaces.
What units the area aside, based on co-founder Naadiya Moosajee, is that it has been deliberately designed for girls by girls, so the area features a lactation lounge, a junior engineering hub the place members can have their youngsters co-play whereas they co-work and a wellness lounge. The area additionally presents entry to a community of consultants, mentors, and buyers, who can present steerage and help to girls entrepreneurs.
“ For girls who’re breastfeeding, we’ve bought a wellness space the place girls can do yoga, meditation and prayer. We’ve additionally bought what we name the junior engineer hub. It’s principally a co-play area for teenagers that if you find yourself working, your youngsters can co-play within the area and likewise study STEM and tech,” Moosajee tells TechCabal in an interview.
WomHub was based by engineers turned entrepreneurs and buyers Naadiya Moosajee and Hema Vallabh, who recognised the challenges girls face within the enterprise world. They needed to create an area the place girls may join, collaborate, and convert. The founders consider that by offering a supportive and inclusive setting, girls can obtain their full potential and make a significant influence of their respective fields.
“We’re thrilled to open WomHub and supply an area the place girls can develop their companies and hopefully make more cash,” mentioned Moosajee. “Our mission is to empower girls to pursue their passions and obtain success on their very own phrases.”
Based on Moosaje, they plan to construct comparable amenities in Botswana and Kenya and ultimately, extra African nations.
Greater than only a coworking area
“What we now have constructed isn’t a co-working area however a group. We’re female-centric and need entrepreneurs to come back into the area to not simply work however develop,” mentioned WomHub co-founder Hema Vallabh.
A method they’re setting WomHub aside is by facilitating funding alternatives for feminine entrepreneurs locally.
“We began a enterprise capital fund, Five35 ventures, which is a $30 million enterprise capital fund investing in girls in tech companies throughout the African continent.”
By means of entry to funding, WomHub goals to help girls all alongside the STEM (Science, Expertise, Engineering, and Mining & Manufacturing) worth chain, from attracting extra girls and ladies via their WomEng programmes to working incubators and accelerators and investing in feminine entrepreneurs.
“I feel that is so vital as a result of none of this implies something until we are able to transfer the capital into the fingers of ladies in order that they’ll develop their companies. And so, this is the reason my enterprise accomplice and I’ve been so targeted on elevating the enterprise capital fund in order that we are able to begin to not solely create the areas for a girl, actually and figuratively, however give them the capital that they should thrive,” added Moosajee.
Based on Partech’s Africa 2022 Enterprise Capital report, female-founder start-ups raised 22% of all rounds in 2022, up 2% from 2021. Moreover, they accounted for $644 million, or 13%, of the full fairness funding, down 3% from 2021.
There’s a clear must bridge the gender hole when it comes to funding for tech startups on the continent and initiatives like WomHub, who supply help for girls past simply mentorship however via really placing capital of their pockets, will play an important function in bridging the hole over the following few years.
