The Future is Female Mentorship Programme (FIF), organised by media communications company, Allison, has announced applications for the fifth edition of its flagship program. Applications to the FIF mentorship programme closes on July 31, 2024.

Launched at the peak of COVID in 2020, FIF has trained over 100 African female tech founders in media, public relations, and communications. This year, it is supported by partners, Google For Startups Accelerator: Women Founders Africa Programme, Salesforce Ventures Impact Fund, and startups database company, F6S.

Claudine Moore, Allison’s Africa managing director and FIF founder, expressed her excitement as the programme reached this milestone. “I am delighted to celebrate The Future is Female Mentorship Programme’s fifth anniversary and its incredible journey supporting African female tech founders. This milestone shows our dedication to empowering underserved African women in tech.”

Female founders and all-female founding teams raised only 2.3% of the total funding in Africa last year. While discussions to improve female participation in tech entrepreneurship have been ongoing, the reality remains challenging. There’s hope this will change as more women join the tech startup scene and venture capitalists (VCs) actively create opportunities to invest in their businesses. However, a critical issue persists: the lack of storytelling skills among founders.

For female founders, media, communications, and public relations training are crucial to pitching their startup’s brand stories to potential investors to secure funding and scaling their businesses. It is equally as important for founders, as the public face of their companies, to have the skills needed to make media appearances and handle media crises when they arise. This is where programmes like FIF make a significant impact.

FIF is growing in popularity among African female tech founders. Applications have more than doubled, seeing a 253% increase from 2020 when it started. Last year, it received almost 500 applications, with 20 female founders emerging as finalists in the programme.

Like the previous editions, the selected mentees on the fifth edition will participate in four private masterclasses. Claudine Moore will lead the first masterclass, joined by AfricaCommsWeek co-founders, Annie Mutumba and Eniola Harrison. TechCabal will host the second and third masterclass sessions. While Salesforce Ventures Impact Fund will teach about venture capital funding in the final masterclass.

Female tech founders in Africa that show traction operating early-stage startups focusing on health, education, finance, agriculture, and sustainability are encouraged to apply.

Salesforce Ventures Impact Fund has historically invested in female-led startups across its portfolio and was eager to support the program for the second consecutive year. Ahead of the launch, Lauryn Poyser, an investor at Salesforce Ventures Impact Fund said, “Salesforce Ventures Impact Fund remains committed to fostering a more inclusive venture capital ecosystem and supporting underrepresented founders.”