Gender Diversity in African Tech Startups Shows Slow but Steady Improvement

The African technology startup landscape has seen a slow but steady improvement in gender diversity within leadership roles between 2023 and 2025, according to Disrupt Africa's third "Diversity Dividend" report. The proportion of startups with at least one female co-founder rose from 14.6% in 2023 to 19.2% in 2025. Concurrently, the percentage of startups led by female CEOs increased from 9.6% to 12.1% over the same period.

The report, analyzing 3,331 tracked startups, combines quantitative and qualitative data. While the overall landscape remains male-dominated, the increases, representing growth of nearly five percentage points for female co-founders and three percentage points for female CEOs over three years, suggest a positive direction. A significant portion of this improvement is attributed to contributions from Africa's four largest markets: South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, and Kenya, which have narrowed the gap with smaller, previously leading markets.

Nigeria and Kenya have demonstrated notable growth in female representation among founding teams and as CEOs. In Nigeria, the share of startups with female co-founders grew from 16.5% to 22%, and female-led CEOs from 10.8% to 13.1%. Kenya reported 23.6% female representation in founding teams and 16.7% female CEOs.

While smaller markets like Zambia and Rwanda have historically shown higher diversity, the major markets are catching up. Some countries, such as Cameroon and Tunisia, experienced declines. In more developed markets like Ivory Coast, female representation in founding teams remains minimal.

Sector-specific analysis shows that legal tech, e-health, ed-tech, recruitment and HR, e-commerce and retail tech, agri-tech, and entertainment perform best regarding gender diversity. FinTech, the largest vertical by startup numbers and investment, still lags behind with 16.5% female co-founders and 8.9% female CEOs, though it also saw some growth.