Introducing Kleos GLOW: Digital Education and Entrepreneurship for Women

Across Africa, women are starting businesses, supporting families, creating jobs and building solutions for their communities.

But too many women entrepreneurs are still expected to grow businesses without access to the practical digital skills, business knowledge, networks and opportunities that could help them succeed.

That is why we are launching Kleos GLOW.

What is GLOW?

GLOW is a Kleos programme for women that combines digital education, entrepreneurship and enterprise development.

It is designed for women who want to start a business, strengthen an existing enterprise or develop the capabilities they need to participate more confidently in the digital economy.

Our aim is simple: to help more women build businesses that are stronger, more sustainable and better positioned for opportunity.

GLOW will equip participants with practical capabilities across areas such as:

• Digital skills and digital business
• Entrepreneurship and business development
• Opportunity identification
• Branding and market positioning
• Marketing and sales
• Financial and business decision-making
• Business operations and systems
• Partnerships and networks
• Enterprise growth

The emphasis is not simply on teaching women about entrepreneurship. It is on helping them apply what they learn to real businesses and real economic opportunities.

A Different Model for Women’s Enterprise Development

GLOW is being developed as a long-term Kleos programme rather than a one-off intervention created around a particular sponsor.

We think about the model in much the same way that a hospital operates.

A hospital develops its expertise, services, systems and infrastructure. Individuals may access those services directly, while an HMO, employer, government institution or other organisation may pay for particular groups of people to receive care.

The hospital does not stop being the hospital because someone else funds access to its services.

GLOW works in the same way.

Kleos develops and owns the programme, curriculum, tools and methodology.

Women can participate in GLOW through Kleos, while corporations, foundations, development organisations, universities and other institutions can partner with us to sponsor cohorts or extend access to particular communities.

This means that GLOW can grow beyond any one partnership.

A bank could sponsor 500 women.

A foundation could support women from a particular community.

A university grant could support an impact evaluation.

A development organisation could fund a cohort in a particular region.

Different partners can participate in the ecosystem, while GLOW remains a consistent platform for developing women entrepreneurs.

Why Digital Education Matters

Entrepreneurship today is increasingly digital.

A woman running a small business may need to communicate with customers through WhatsApp, promote products through social media, receive digital payments, manage customer information, use online tools, analyse basic business data or sell to customers she may never meet physically.

Digital capability is therefore no longer an optional extra.

It is becoming part of the basic infrastructure of entrepreneurship.

Yet digital education is most valuable when it is connected to a clear economic purpose.

For GLOW participants, the question will not simply be:

“Can you use this digital tool?”

The more important question is:

“How can you use this tool to create value, reach customers, operate more effectively or grow your business?”

That connection between digital capability and enterprise capability is at the heart of GLOW.

Our First Goal: 500 Women

We are now mobilising 500 women for the GLOW Fall 2026 Cohort.

We are particularly interested in women who:

• Are considering starting a business;
• Already operate a micro, small or growing enterprise;
• Want to strengthen their digital capabilities;
• Want practical entrepreneurship education;
• Are looking for greater access to networks, markets and opportunities.

Over time, our ambition is to develop GLOW into a platform through which thousands of women can gain the knowledge, confidence and capabilities needed to build sustainable enterprises.

Partnerships Are Welcome

We also welcome conversations with organisations interested in expanding economic opportunities for women.

Potential partners may support GLOW through:

• Participant sponsorship;
• Community mobilisation;
• Digital access;
• Mentorship;
• Market access;
• Business services;
• Research and impact evaluation; or
• Funding for specific cohorts or communities.

Our goal is to create an ecosystem around women entrepreneurs in which different organisations contribute what they do best.

Join the GLOW Fall 2026 Cohort

If you are a woman interested in starting, strengthening or growing a business, we would love to have you join us.

Applications for the GLOW Fall 2026 Cohort are now open.

Register here:
[REGISTRATION LINK]

And if you know a woman who could benefit from GLOW, please share the opportunity with her.

Because when women gain the capabilities to build stronger enterprises, the impact extends far beyond one entrepreneur.

It reaches families, employees, customers and communities.

This is GLOW: women building capability, enterprise and opportunity for the future.