Across Fiji and the Pacific, women remain significantly underrepresented in the tech-startup ecosystem. Many women founders face barriers such as limited access to early-stage capital, lack of mentorship, and the absence of networks that can help them scale. At the same time, women’s participation in venture capital and investment decision-making remains minimal, reinforcing a persistent financing gap for women-led ventures.

The Found(Her) Program was created to change that narrative — by building a sustained, inclusive pipeline of women founders and future investors who can shape Fiji’s innovation economy. The initiative aims not only to empower individual entrepreneurs but to strengthen the ecosystem that supports them through training, mentorship, access to networks, and visibility with investors.

The program begins with a pilot cohort, combining two core tracks:

• An Incubator Track for early-stage women founders developing technology-enabled solutions, focused on validation, MVP development, and investor readiness.
• A Venture Capital (VC) Track for aspiring women investors, designed to build foundational investment literacy and expand the pool of gender-lens investors in Fiji.

The pilot culminates in a Shark Tank-style Demo Day, connecting founders directly with financiers, mentors, and ecosystem enablers — creating real pathways to growth.

What makes Found(Her) unique is its long-term commitment: this is not a one-off project, but the foundation of a multi-cohort pipeline that will nurture women-led startups at different stages — from ideation to scaling — while equipping women investors to reinvest in their communities. Each cohort will build upon the last, expanding the network of women innovators and strengthening Fiji’s position as a Pacific hub for inclusive entrepreneurship and digital innovation.

The Found(Her) Program aligns with Fiji’s National Development Plan and National Digital Strategy, and contributes to regional and global priorities on entrepreneurship, innovation, and digital inclusion. It builds on global partnerships through Women in Tech Global and regional collaborations with development and private-sector partners — creating a powerful model for gender-inclusive growth in the Pacific.