• To celebrate International Women’s Day, Google has announced three new initiatives aimed at accelerating startups on the African continent.
• These include the Google for Startups Accelerator Africa: Women Founders Cohort, the Hustle Academy for Women-Led SMEs, and a social media series focusing on women in the tech sector.
• The Startups Accelerator has selected 15 startups from eight different African countries.

8th March marks International Women’s Day and to celebrate the occasion, Google has announced the launch of three specific initiatives for the African continent.

Google says that all three are aimed at empowering women entrepreneurs in Africa and providing them with the access to resources, training, and anything else required to help accelerate growth.

To that end, the three initiatives are the Google for Startups Accelerator Africa: Women Founders Cohort, the Hustle Academy for Women-Led SMEs, and a social media series focusing on inspiring women in Africa’s technology sector.

“We are thrilled to announce the selected startups for the inaugural class of our Google for Startups Accelerator Africa: Women Founders Cohort. These women are tackling some of Africa’s most pressing challenges, and we’re excited to support them as they build the future,” enthused Folarin Aiayegbusi, head of Startup Ecosystem for Africa, in a press release sent to Hypertext.

For the Accelerator, 15 startups have been chosen from eight different countries. The chosen startups are:

• Afriwell Health (Congo),
• Alajo App (Nigeria),
• eWaka (Kenya),
• Farmer Lifeline (Kenya),
• Maxibuy (Nigeria),
• MosMos (Kenya),
• Gobeba (Kenya),
• Hepta Pay (Rwanda),
• Jem HR (South Africa),
• Kola Market (Ghana),
• Mipango (Tanzania),
• Smart Ikigega (Rwanda),
• Suitch (Cameroon),
• Tyms Africa (Nigeria),
• Zydii (Kenya).

As for the Hustle Academy, it is a bootcamp-style training program designed to help entrepreneurs increase revenue, position themselves for investment, and build sustainable businesses for the future, according to Google.

The company adds that it plans to host six women-focused cohorts of the Hustle Academy program in Kenya, Nigeria, and South Africa throughout the month of March, with women entrepreneurs invited to apply to join these cohorts here.

Lastly the #WomeninIT social media series features the stories of six inspiring women who are making an impact in the fields of technology, business, entrepreneurship, innovation, and startups on the continent. “Follow us on Twitter (@GoogleAfrica) and be inspired by their stories and see how they are changing the game in their industries,” the company concludes for those interested in hearing those stories.