When building a tech startup, the rush to launch often leads to a common oversight: building a product for a default user persona and trying to bolt on accessibility features later. Last Thursday at the Standard Chartered headquarters in Lusaka, Cohort 6 founders of the Standard Chartered Women in Tech (WiT) program turned that traditional product development workflow completely on its head.
Hosted in partnership with Sightsavers Zambia and the Zambia Federation of Disability Organisations (ZAFOD), the WiT team convened a specialised half-day CSR workshop. Rather than a typical lecture, the session operated as a two-way collaborative exchange, bringing together the Top 10 WiT founders and 15 to 20 inclusion consultants, spanning entrepreneurs with disabilities, public-facing professionals, and active digital users.
World Stress Testing: The MVP Testing Lab
During the hands-on MVP Testing Lab, founders put live Minimum Viable Products, ranging from mobile apps and web platforms to physical prototypes, directly into the hands of the consultant group. Participants navigated the solutions using their own assistive technologies, screen readers, and lived end-user strategies.
The primary takeaway for the founders was clear: Inclusivity cannot be an afterthought. Designing for accessibility must happen from inception rather than being patched on post-launch. Testing solutions against diverse operational constraints revealed critical user-experience gaps that had been overlooked in initial build phases.
Reciprocal Impact: Peer Exchange Circles & Direct Commitments
The exchange flowed both ways. In intimate Peer Exchange Circles, consultant entrepreneurs shared the everyday operational challenges they face in running their businesses. Drawing from their intensive 12-week WiT accelerator curriculum, the founders provided targeted, peer-to-peer business coaching to offer practical strategic advice.
To ensure the impact extended well past the half-day session, founders concluded the event by making tangible, concrete pledges:
Founders provided tangible support ranging from free business advisory sessions and dedicated mentorship tracks to direct career pathways, including a tech internship awarded through Nazre Health.
As Cohort 6 wraps up its final week of intensive sessions, this hands-on workshop underscored a vital venture-building lesson: true innovation doesn’t just scale; it includes.
