Applications are now open for the
FemSTEM Africa 2025 Pitch Competition!
The FemSTEM Africa Pitch Competition is the culminating event of the FemSTEM Africa event series, co-hosted by African Leadership University (ALU) and Health Innovation Hub (H2i). The pitch competition, judged by a panel of industry experts and key opinion leaders, gives up-and-coming healthcare innovators the opportunity to present their idea to the public and the chance to win funding and in-kind services to scale their project. With FemSTEM’s mandate to inspire, engage, and celebrate women-identifying entrepreneurs, this final event spotlights and accelerates the work of the next generation of women-identifying entrepreneurs in the healthcare sector across Africa.
This year, the FemSTEM Africa Pitch Event will take place on June 24th in-person at ALU’s campus in Kigali, Rwanda.
Applications will be open from April 2nd to 22nd. Deadline extended to EOD April 29th.
Have questions? Email H2i FemSTEM Coordinator h2i.international@utoronto.ca
The FemSTEM Pitch Competition is held in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation and Sustineri Attorneys.
Awards:
Winner: $15,000 CAD cash prize and $5,000 CAD in-kind legal services from Sustineri Attorneys
1st runner up: $5,000 CAD cash prize and $5,000 CAD in-kind legal services from Sustineri Attorneys
2nd runner up: $5,000 CAD cash prize and $5,000 CAD in-kind legal services from Sustineri Attorneys
Eligibility for Pitch Competition:
Please read the following eligibility criteria carefully. Only ventures that meet all of the below criteria will be considered for the competition. Ventures must:
- Be innovating within the health space in Africa;
- Have at least one co-founder or long-term team member who self-identifies as a woman;
- Have a pitch presenter available who self-identifies as a woman;
- Have had at least one team member attend at least two FemSTEM events (Kick Off, Fireside Chats). Registration for these events can be found on our Events page;
- Winners of previous year’s competition are not eligible to re-apply. Previous finalists who did not place in previous years are eligible.
We encourage all interested ventures to join the H2i community as client companies to access the wealth of mentorship resources we offer.
Mentorship
Pitch finalists will have access to 1 hour of mentorship time prior to the competition.
How to Apply
Complete and submit the application form below by the application deadline. Part of the application asks for you to upload a completed Team Composition document. You can download the template for this document here.
Have questions? Email H2i FemSTEM Coordinator h2i.international@utoronto.ca