Algerian Women Founders in Tech: Profiles, Barriers, and the Ecosystem They’re Building

The Numbers Behind the Gap

Algeria’s startup ecosystem has expanded rapidly since the passage of the 2020 Startup Act, which created a formal legal framework for innovative companies and unlocked government-backed funding. By mid-2024, over 2,300 startups had received the “label startup” designation from Algeria’s Ministry of Knowledge Economy, Startups, and Micro-enterprises, with more than 7,800 registered on the national startup.dz platform. But a closer look at the founders reveals a stark imbalance: women remain significantly underrepresented among startup founders, consistent with MENA-wide data showing that only about 10% of tech startup founders in the region are female.

These numbers trail Algeria’s regional peers. In Tunisia, startups with at least one female co-founder account for roughly 20% of the ecosystem, supported by a more established angel investing culture and organizations like She Loves Tech’s global network. Morocco’s Technopark Casablanca ecosystem has cultivated active women’s empowerment programs through initiatives like the Association des Femmes Chefs d’Entreprises du Maroc (AFEM). Egypt’s startup scene, the largest in North Africa by funding volume, has produced globally visible women founders such as Nour Taher, co-founder of Intella, which raised $12.5 million in a Series A round in 2025.

Algeria’s gap is not a talent problem. Women represent roughly 65% of university graduates in Algeria, with particularly strong STEM representation — women earn about 58% of STEM degrees and 48% of engineering graduates, compared to a 16% global average for engineering. The disconnect between educational achievement and entrepreneurial participation points to systemic barriers that operate after graduation — in funding access, cultural expectations, professional networks, and institutional support.

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Profiles: Women Building Algeria’s Tech Future

A growing number of Algerian women have broken through these barriers to build functioning businesses at the intersection of technology and local needs. Their stories illuminate both what is possible and what remains difficult.

Siham Benharoun founded L@bTech, a tech startup incubator with a mission to bridge the digital divide. Based in Algeria, L@bTech creates space for innovation to thrive, with a particular emphasis on supporting young and aspiring women in tech. Through her incubator, Benharoun has cultivated a network of innovators using technology to address local challenges, making her a pivotal figure in Algeria’s growing tech ecosystem.

Fatma Meheni, a journalist and media professional, launched Zolizola.com during the 2020 pandemic — an e-commerce platform dedicated to baby and childcare products. What began as a response to the growing needs of Algerian parents during lockdown has grown into an expanding brand aiming to become the go-to platform for baby products in Algeria and across Africa. Meheni has since co-founded Ahras Studio, a gaming and creative venture.

Yasmine Azzouz is building Ecodz, an eco-startup transforming waste into opportunity. In a country that produces 13 million tonnes of household waste per year but recycles just 4%, Ecodz delivers innovative recycling and sustainable waste management solutions while sparking a wider movement for environmental awareness.

What distinguishes these founders from their male counterparts is not ambition or capability but the additional friction they face at every stage. GIZ reports that women make up only around 17.4% of economic actors in Algeria, despite their dominance in higher education. Across the ecosystem, women founders report being the only woman in investor meetings, being asked about their marital status during pitch sessions, and being steered toward “softer” sectors like education or health rather than fintech or infrastructure.

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Barriers: Funding, Culture, and Network Gaps

The most measurable barrier is funding. Algerian venture capital is scarce overall, but data from the Algerian Startup Fund (ASF) — the government-backed VC fund that has invested in over 130 startups — and Algeria Venture, the national public accelerator, suggest that women-led startups receive a disproportionately small share. This pattern is consistent with global data: in 2024, all-female founding teams received just 2.3% of global VC funding, or $6.7 billion out of $289 billion deployed worldwide. In Africa specifically, businesses led by women accounted for only 0.9% of total funds raised by startups in 2025.

Cultural expectations compound the funding gap. Algeria’s social fabric, while increasingly modern in urban centers like Algiers, Oran, and Constantine, still places significant pressure on women to prioritize family obligations. Women founders describe having to prove their “seriousness” to investors, partners, and even family members in ways that male founders simply do not face.

The network gap may be the most insidious barrier. Algeria’s tech ecosystem, like most globally, runs on informal networks — WhatsApp groups, cafe meetups, conference hallways, and personal introductions. These networks skew heavily male. Women founders report being excluded not through malice but through simple omission: they are not in the room when deals are discussed, not invited to the informal dinners where partnerships form, and not included in the referral chains that connect startups to their first enterprise clients.

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The Support Ecosystem: What Exists and What Is Missing

Several organizations are working to close these gaps. Women Techmakers (WTM) Algiers, originally part of Google’s global WTM program, organizes workshops, hackathons, and networking events. Based at the Higher National School of Computer Science (ESI) in Algiers, the community connects women in technology for learning and professional development. In October 2025, Google transitioned the WTM program to Technovation, an external nonprofit, which now provides programmatic support to WTM members globally.

The Algerian government’s startup support programs have begun to address gender inclusion, though implementation remains uneven. GIZ’s PEFEVA program (Promoting Female Entrepreneurship in the Green Economy), running from 2024 to 2027, is developing entrepreneurial services tailored to the needs of female entrepreneurs, with a focus on green economy value chains. The World Bank’s Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) has trained nearly 120 women artisans and entrepreneurs across Algeria in e-commerce and digital marketing, with over 74% of participants integrating new online platforms into their businesses. Private accelerators like Sylabs — Algeria’s first private startup accelerator, founded in 2015 — have supported startups across 31 wilayas and are expanding their programming.

What is still missing is a dedicated women-focused tech fund in Algeria — the kind of vehicle that has proven effective elsewhere. In Egypt, the EBRD’s Women in Business programme has deployed significant capital to women-led MSMEs through partner banks like Banque du Caire and Banque Misr, with a $100 million loan specifically targeting women-led businesses. Womena, a UAE-based angel investment network, provides structured support for women investors backing women-led startups in the MENA region. Algeria has no equivalent mechanism. The other critical gap is mentorship: structured programs connecting successful women founders with early-stage entrepreneurs. Informal mentorship happens, but it is ad hoc, unscalable, and dependent on individual goodwill rather than institutional design.

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Sources & Further Reading

• Algeria Startup Act 2020 — Official Text
• Inside Algeria’s Startup Labelling System: Over 2,300 Now Labeled — LaunchBase Africa
• World Bank — How Women Entrepreneurs in Algeria Are Going Digital (We-Fi)
• GIZ — Promoting Female Entrepreneurship in Algeria’s Green Economy (PEFEVA)
• Startup Genome — Only 15% of Tech Startup Founders Are Female
• Founders Forum — Women in VC & Startup Funding: 2025 Report
• Disrupt Africa — Only 17% of African Startups Have a Female Co-Founder
• Powering Progress: Women Entrepreneurs Transforming Algeria — SheAtWork
• Sylabs: Algeria’s First Startup Accelerator — MENAbytes
• EBRD Women in Business Programme
• CNN — Google Drops Key Program for Women in Tech (WTM to Technovation)
• Technext — African Female Founders Raised 0.9% of $3.2B Total Funding in 2025