F-LANE

Accelerating Female Empowerment globally in times of COVID-19 - Seite 2

Inger Paus, Managing Director of the Vodafone Institute, adds on the challenges of female founders: "Our research has shown just how enormous the underrepresentation of female founders is in the tech sector worldwide and their lack of access to venture capital. Only 2.8% of venture capital invested globally goes to women-led companies" (source: the 2019 State of European Tech Report by Atomico). Graduating from F-LANE, the female founders are prepared to take the next step in their business and offer their meaningful products and services to an even wider audience.

Background information

F-LANE is Europe's first accelerator programme supporting early-stage businesses using technology to empower women. The programme is initiated and funded by the Vodafone Institute, and implemented this year by Yunus Social Business, the organisation of Nobel Peace Prize winner Muhammad Yunus. Further cooperation partners are Social Entrepreneurship Academy, Impact Hub Berlin and WLOUNGE.

The F-LANE 2020 participants:

1. Mete a Colher

Brazil, founded in 2016 by Renata Albertim

https://meteacolher.org/  

Brazil ranks as the 5th worst country in the world in terms of gender violence. Mete a Colher supports Brazilian women facing domestic violence. Their Tina app is a service bought by corporates who want to provide their female employees with a way of accessing guidance and professional support when they experience any kind of violence at home. Through an anonymous chat, an employee can have a conversation with specialized social workers and psychologists. Whenever necessary, they forward it to the relevant support centres or police departments. Tina professionals oversee the evolution of the case with the victim as well as the support networks. It is their goal to eradicate violence towards women and to achieve equality for them.

    2.    SheKab

Pakistan, founded in 2015 by Hira Rizvi

https://www.shekab.com/  

SheKab is a monthly carpooling app carefully designed for women in Pakistan to travel freely on fixed schedules. The app uses intelligent clustering and route optimisation while being 4x cheaper than other ride-hailing services, due to carpooling. It is the first of its kind that is female focused. Harassment on public transport is a major issue in Pakistan and limits women's mobility and freedom. This subscription-based service is a safe, reliable and affordable way for women to move freely while the cab drivers earn a stable monthly income with just a few hours of driving a day. The drivers are trained and interviewed to ensure safety. It is SheKab's goal to help 17 million Pakistani women struggling every day with finding safe transportation.