Empowering Women in Engineering: Beyond becoming engineers, it's now time for more women owned engineering companies.
Engineering has long been a male-dominated field, but female engineers and engineering entrepreneurs are breaking barriers, driving innovation, and shaping a more sustainable future. WomHub and its foundation WomEng has been working over the last 2 decades to build female engineering and tech talent, including running hackathons for female engineering talent. It was a vision to not only create great female engineering talent, but a long term view to create and develop female engineering founders. Since 2019, WomHub has been running the Africa Innovation Fellowship, a pan-African female founder incubator to support more female founders in engineering. We also run a specific incubators for women in engineering and women in mining.
Many women-led engineering businesses are making waves in industries such as renewable energy, construction, manufacturing, and environmental technology. These pioneers are developing groundbreaking solutions in: ? Clean Energy & Climate Tech – Women engineers are leading startups focused on solar power, energy efficiency, and sustainable infrastructure. We currently support founders on the Climate Capital Hyper accelerator, where they are solving problems and building businesses from energy monitoring to agri-tech and solar powered bakeries. ? Circular Economy & Waste Management – Female entrepreneurs are innovating in recycling, sustainable packaging, and eco-friendly manufacturing. We have run 3 cohorts of a women in the circular economy incubator and accelerator to help entrepreneurs leverage this as a competitive advantage and growth opportunity. ? Smart Cities & Infrastructure – Women-led businesses are designing resilient, inclusive cities with a focus on green technology and smart engineering. We support companies who are expert designers in green building and even new, more sustainable construction materials.
On this World Engineering Day, we reflect on the strides we have made as an engineering talent builder and more so as an Entrepreneurial Support Organisation. Entrepreneurial Support Organizations (ESOs) like WomHub play a crucial role in fostering innovation, economic growth, and sustainability by empowering women in engineering and female engineering entrepreneurs. Through targeted capacity building and business development initiatives, ESOs help bridge gender gaps, enhance technical and leadership skills, and enable women-led engineering businesses to thrive in a competitive market. However, despite the benefits, challenges persist in ensuring equitable access and long-term impact. While we have seen much success and incredible female founded businesses through our incubators and accelerators, ?the challenges in supporting female engineering entrepreneurs remain. These can be summarised as follows: 1. Systemic Gender Bias Women in engineering still face biases that limit access to leadership roles, investment, and market opportunities. Overcoming these barriers requires intentional efforts, including advocacy, policy support, and inclusive funding mechanisms. 2. Limited Representation in Technical Sectors The underrepresentation of women in engineering means fewer role models and mentors for aspiring female entrepreneurs. ESOs must actively create mentorship programs and highlight success stories to inspire the next generation. 3. Access to Capital Female entrepreneurs often struggle to secure investment due to risk perceptions and a lack of tailored financial products. They are bootstrapping their businesses for longer which slows their growth, but also sends negative signals to the market especially in a world where the ability to raise capital has become a proxy for success. ESOs can play a critical role in helping founders understand their needs and connecting women with gender-smart investors and alternative funding options. 4. Balancing Technical and Business Growth Many women in engineering prioritize technical excellence but may lack business strategy and operations expertise. ESOs must design holistic programs that integrate both technical skills and entrepreneurship training. To build on these successes and create a truly inclusive and sustainable engineering sector, further efforts are needed: ? Expanding ESO initiatives to reach more women across different engineering fields
? Support early venture building for female engineering talent
? Increasing investment in women-led engineering ventures, especially in sustainability-focused industries ? Developing more inclusive industry policies that promote more equitable access to global supply chains ? ? Strengthening global networks and collaborations, enabling female engineers to scale their impact worldwide
What’s Next? The Future of Support for Women in Engineering By investing in female engineers across the value chain—from talent development to leadership and entrepreneurship—we can build a more innovative, inclusive, and sustainable future. When women thrive in engineering, industries transform, economies grow, and the world becomes a better place for all. At WomHub we have always been futuristic, in understanding that you need changemaking engineering talent to build an entrepreneurship ecosystem. We are seeing the fruits of our 2 decades come to light, but it takes a village to raise a start-up. Now more than ever, we need collective action, support, investment and access to help women in engineering businesses thrive. When women win, we all win!
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Happy World Engineering Day!
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