Three partners, one program: inside the Her Startup model
It isn't every day that a Nigerian non-profit, a Swiss charity and an impact investor decide to build something together. They were brought together by a problem: women make up 58% of Africa's self-employed, yet in 2025 startups founded only by women received less than 1% of the $3.2 billion invested in African tech. There is no denying that the talent is there. What is missing is a path: training that prepares founders to raise money, capital that fits early-stage businesses, and people who stay with them after the cheque clears.
Many programmes for women entrepreneurs offer training, mentoring or introductions to investors. Fewer stay with a founder all the way through. They prepare her to raise money, invest in her directly, and stay with her as the business grows. Her Startup was built to do all three. It does so through a partnership that plays to each partner’s strengths, bringing local roots, international reach and investment expertise together in one programme.
What makes the partnership work isn't just what each organisation brings. It is who leads them. Each co-founder has lived a different part of the journey that Her Startup founders are about to take.
Khalil Halilu knows what it is to build a startup. By a young age, he had founded ShapShap, an on-demand delivery app now operating in Lagos and Abuja, and CANs Park, an eco-friendly tech hub in Abuja that offers startups workspace, advisory, and community. He later went on to collaboratively start and run several more businesses, sit on directorates, before founding KSH Foundation. The Nigerian non-profit, with a presence in over 15 states and a particular emphasis on women, supports young Nigerians in entrepreneurship and technology. He currently sits as Chief Executive Officer of Nigeria's National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI). He brings to Her Startup a founder's understanding of what it takes to get a young company off the ground, and deep roots in the ecosystem Nigerian founders work in.
Maggie Gu brings an international view, and a long commitment to Africa. She first travelled to the continent in 2003, and it has shaped her work ever since. A former diplomat with expertise in international affairs, she is now a tech and impact investor and philanthropist with more than 20 years of experience in Africa. As President of Tomorrow Foundation, a Geneva-based charity whose entrepreneurship programmes have trained more than 6,500 African students in 10 countries, she connects Her Startup to international partners and funders. Her focus today is on preparing young Africans for a technology-driven future. Through its AI for All initiative, Tomorrow Foundation is bringing the 100 Million Learners entrepreneurship and leadership programme, developed by Thunderbird School of Global Management and Arizona State University, to Nigeria. Her own career, from employee to investor and manager, has made her acutely aware of how differently women are treated when they look for funding, in Africa and beyond.
"Today, as technology opens new possibilities, women have a historic opportunity — not merely to participate in the future, but to stand at the forefront and help lead it. We want to see more African women building businesses, creating opportunities and shaping the next generation of innovation." — Maggie Gu, Co-founder, Her Startup; President, Tomorrow Foundation
Evelyn Castle has built ventures, and now invests in them. A pioneering health executive, she co-founded eHealth Africa and EHA Clinics, raising over USD $250 million and leading major public health initiatives, including polio eradication in Nigeria and Ebola containment across West Africa. With more than a decade of experience leading health programmes across Nigeria and the region, she understands firsthand what it takes to build and scale organisations on the continent. In 2021, she founded EHA Impact Ventures (EIV), a non-profit impact investing firm providing capital, support, and networks to early-stage, women-led businesses across healthcare, nutrition, and livelihoods. Under her leadership, EIV has deployed over USD $9 million in catalytic capital to African women-led businesses developing scalable solutions for underserved communities. Her experience has given her a clear understanding of what young companies need to grow, and how the right kind of capital can make that growth possible.
Training comes from a fourth partner, Founder Institute, one of the world's largest pre-seed startup accelerators.
Because the partners work as one programme, founders don't have to move between unrelated schemes. The journey runs in three stages:
- Training. Three months with Founder Institute, with fees covered by Her Startup and a monthly stipend so founders can commit fully.
- Capital. Graduates pitch for investment, and selected founders receive convertible, revenue-based financing.
- Mentoring. Funded founders receive half a year of mentoring matched to their needs.
The financing is designed around the founder. A convertible, revenue-based loan is repaid from a share of future revenue, with the option to convert into equity. Founders keep ownership early on, and repayments adjust when revenue is low. Repayments are then reinvested in future founders, so each successful company helps fund the next.
"It's not enough to just give these companies financing. It's about giving them financing that will truly help them succeed. We chose a convertible, revenue-based loan, an innovative financing mechanism that is just starting to enter the market. It is incredibly founder-friendly." — Evelyn Castle, Co-founder, Her Startup; Co-founder, EHA Impact Ventures
Support doesn't stop at the business. Founders receive a monthly stipend tied to participation and performance, plus free therapy through Blueroom Care. A founder who can pay her bills and look after her wellbeing can give her business her full attention.
The first edition tested the model in 2025. More than 200 founders from 18 African countries applied, and 10 were selected for training, from Nigeria, Kenya and Tanzania. Three ventures received funding at a Pitch Day in Lagos in April 2025, and founders have since gone on to win grants and awards and to attract investor interest. Ngozi Nwabueze of PocketLawyers.io, for example, used the programme to shift her legal-tech platform from a "tech-first" to a "trust-first" approach, investing in lawyer training and real-time case tracking.
The partners have also learned from the pilot. The second edition adds an orientation session before training starts, clearer guidance for participants and stronger on-the-ground collaboration between communities in African countries.
That willingness to learn comes from leaders who stay involved. A founder who has built startups, a diplomat turned investor, and a health entrepreneur turned impact investor designed the programme themselves, debated the financing model and agreed on it together.
"We don't just talk; we work hard to implement our ideas. Together, we can create a thriving ecosystem where women entrepreneurs are empowered to lead, innovate and succeed." — Khalil Halilu, Co-founder, Her Startup; Founder, KSH Foundation
The result is a programme that is greater than the sum of its parts, and a path from idea to growth that women founders have rarely been offered.
If you are a woman building a technology-driven business in Africa, applications for the second cohort of Her Startup are open until 26 October 2026. Find out more at https://apply.her-startup.com/.
