Three young founders backing girls and women with AI
From Tunisia to Togo to Kenya, young founders supported by UNICEF Femtech Ventures are closing gaps in health, safety and access
Endometriosis takes a decade to diagnose. Internet access in Togo remains under 40 per cent. Public transport in Nairobi isn't always safe for girls and women. Three founders, all aged 30 and under, are building AI tools to address these issues.
Part of the first cohort of 11 startups across Africa and Asia supported by UNICEF Femtech Ventures with equity-free funding for frontier tech solutions addressing the sexual and reproductive health and rights of girls and women.
Here, the founders share insights and experience of building tech solutions for social impact.
Feel by Luna
An AI voice-journaling and support app for endometriosis, built by Luna for Health in Tunisia
Endometriosis affects one in 10 women worldwide, yet diagnosis takes seven to 10 years, on average, while in Tunisa and across the region, stigma keeps the pain unspoken. Feel by Luna lets women describe their symptoms by voice, in their dialect. The AI tool provides this as a structured record doctors can diagnose and treat.
Hear more from Inès.
“I grew up in Tunisia, and I have seen how many girls and women suffer in silence due to menstrual and reproductive health that remain really taboo. Every woman deserves to be heard, believed and to get access to quality care no matter where she lives.”
HLlama
An antenatal and maternal health services chatbot, built by Umbaji in Togo
In Togo, mobile phone use is near-universal while internet access stands at 37 percent and 93 percent of the employment is in the informal sector, leaving people locked out of official registries and finance institutions. HLlama’s AI agents meet actual needs with practical assistance: voice and text support in Ewe, Mina and Kabyè, guiding maternal care, birth registration and small business finance over WhatsApp and interactive voice response.
Hear more from Catherine.
“You can build a successful business that solves local problems by listening to people. I believe the best solution comes from spending time with the people who actually need the solution.”
SafeRide
A safety app for women using public transport, built by Esheria Ventures in Kenya
Built for feature phones and patchy connectivity, SafeRide uses on-device AI to help women document unsafe incidents in locally spoken languages then connects them to verified support, offline-first, so safety does not depend on internet connectivity.
“SafeRide works on low-end, Android phones, it supports English, Kiswahili and Sheng, and works even when connectivity is limited. If technology is going to matter, it has to meet people where they are.”
UNICEF Femtech Ventures is a five-year investment platform created with founding partners Government of Sweden and Temasek Foundation. Through a series of tailored calls for application, it offers up to $100,000 in equity-free funding, as well as technical assistance and mentorship, to frontier tech founders building solutions for girls and women across Africa and Asia.
