The African Development Bank announced the start of a project to map 160 associations for women entrepreneurs across 16 African nations on June 26, 2024.
Beth Dunford, the Bank’s Vice President for Agriculture, Human, and Social Development, officially launched the project at a ceremony in Abidjan. Several associations, umbrella organizations, and coalitions of female entrepreneurs attended the event.
The Gender Equality Trust Fund (GETF) and the Bank Group’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative are supporting the mapping project, which aims to increase the associations’ institutional capacities, improve their visibility, and make financing more accessible.
“The African Development Bank’s Action Plan for Engaging with Civil Society 2024–2028 illustrates our commitment to inclusivity, transparency, and accountability,” stated Ms. Dunford in her opening speech.
The project will also help to promote collaboration and networking. “Associations of women entrepreneurs are catalysts for reforms and innovations that support female entrepreneurship and facilitate women’s access to the economic resources they need to realize their full potential,” said Zeneb Touré, head of the Civil Society and Community Engagement Division at the Bank.
Ms. Dagou Yvonne Nivine Gadji, representing the SEPHIS Foundation, which facilitates access to bank funding for women-led SMEs in sub-Saharan Africa, emphasized that the associations identified for the mapping project would be “catalysts for reforms, a boost to women’s empowerment, and a crucible for building the capacity of several other networks of women entrepreneurs.”
Jacqueline Tientcheu, President of the Federation of Women Entrepreneurs Organizations in Central Africa (FOF-AC), said, “We are truly concerned about the issue of access to funding. However, it’s very difficult in Africa because most women don’t have a guarantee of raising the funds they need. There are microfinance organizations that support women, but their interest rates are very high. We think that the AFAWA program, through the Gender Equality Trust Fund (GETF), can help us.”
By supporting this initiative, the Bank has taken a significant step toward assisting African women entrepreneurs, promoting women’s economic empowerment, and promoting inclusive growth across Africa.
