At the Standard Bank Top Women Conference 2025, I had the privilege of sitting down with Naledzani Mosomane, Head of Enterprise and Supplier Development at Standard Bank South Africa. 

As headline sponsor of this event for the past 10 years, Standard Bank has consistently demonstrated its commitment to advancing women in business, and my conversation with Mosomane revealed just how deeply that commitment runs. 

Our dialogue stretched beyond numbers and policies into the real challenges and opportunities facing SMEs in South Africa today, especially women-led businesses. Yet, as we reflected on the rise of global startups like OpenAI, I wanted to know whether similar conversations are being held here at home to inspire women to compete on that scale.

Mosomane acknowledged that while South Africa has some women entering the digital innovation space, the gap remains striking. 

“From a digital innovation perspective, there is a gap, and it’s a big gap that we need to figure out how to close,” she explained. 

For her, the challenge is not only about technology itself but about ensuring that women and young people see opportunities in coding, tech startups, and the broader digital economy. She emphasized that startups in these spaces require significant investment—hundreds of millions in some cases—and the question becomes: how can funders, corporates, and banks create an ecosystem where innovation can thrive?

Naturally, the issue of funding and access came up. While Standard Bank does have teams dedicated to venture capital and SME support, Mosomane was quick to highlight another hurdle: access to knowledge. 

“Besides the funding piece, access to knowledge or access to information for women-owned SMEs is really big,” she stated. 

Many entrepreneurs simply don’t know what opportunities are available or how to position their businesses for growth. She stressed that the bank’s role is not just in offering capital but also in guiding SMEs through enterprise and supplier development, ensuring that even those who don’t qualify for traditional lending have pathways to growth.

What struck me most was Mosomane’s optimism about grassroots innovation, particularly in townships. She spoke passionately about entrepreneurs who are breaking boundaries in manufacturing and innovation, including a woman producing prosthetics within her community. 

Stories like these, she said, prove that the pipeline of quality SMEs exists—they just need support to scale and create jobs. As we wrapped up, I couldn’t help but feel that conversations like this, grounded in both reality and vision, are exactly what South Africa needs if we are to unlock the full potential of women-owned and youth-driven enterprises.

Watch the full conversation below;