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Rise, the Cape Town-based innovation hub owned by Absa, has launched the Rise Scalarator, focused on female founders in the Western Cape.

The Rise Scalarator aims to play a part in unlocking the value of women in the entrepreneurial ecosystem, and will focus on five female founders between June and November of this year.

It will kick off with a 12-week bootcamp, culminating in a funding pitch to be held at Rise, which will assist participants in securing investment opportunities.

The programme aims to support South African black female founders who have developed a post-minimum viable product (MVP) tech solution to boost and scale their startup, whilst acquiring a range of new competencies.

“The programme is designed to focus on the female founder holistically. They will have access to an advisory board, a business coach, financial management and modelling tools as well as access to a world-class network by being based at Rise Cape Town for the duration of the programme,” said Antoinette Prophy, founder and managing director at the 88 Business Collective, who co-created the programme with Absa as project manager.

The five selected founders will receive support from a business coach in order to boost their personal growth and leadership skills to support the growth of their own employees, leadership team and company.

Participants will also attend monthly networking events with tech experts and investors, which will provide them with an opportunity to learn from and connect with some of their experienced peers.

“We are actively enhancing the trajectory of startups and increasing long-term sustainability,” said Camilla Swart, ecosystem manager at Rise Cape Town.

“Providing support to the five successful applicants is an important step forward in driving long-term change in the competitive world of tech.”

Applications close on May 9.

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