AfDB to fund 69,000 women entrepreneurs in Nigeria with $15m
1 May, 2022From Isaac Anumihe, Abuja
Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), under the African Development Bank (AfDB) has announced its intention to fund 69,000 women with $15 million in Nigeria, Cameroon, Egypt, Kenya, Mozambique with a view to improving their small and medium businesses.
The statement obtained from the bank’s website said that this fourth round of financing will benefit almost 69,000 women entrepreneurs in developing economies with access to digital technology and finance.
“The funds will enable the Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility to design and implement programmes to improve digital access to finance women entrepreneurs and reduce the $42 billion financing gap as well as improve their operational efficiency to build back better following the COVID-19 crisis.
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“We-Fi’s fourth round of allocations comes at a crucial time. Women’s economic empowerment is under pressure due to conflict and insecurity, rising prices and the continuous fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic around the world” the bank said.
According to We-Fi, the funding which will not only complement Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa Initiative (AFAWA) will also be used to broaden access to finance for women small and medium businesses.
“Digital financial solutions are key to improving the quality of life of people in Africa and to reducing the gender access-to-finance gap. This funding, which is complementary to the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa Initiative (AFAWA), will be used not only to broaden access to finance for women small and medium businesses, but also to provide an avenue for their increased economic empowerment and resilience,” the bank said, adding that three other multilateral development banks received allocations in this fourth round: The Islamic Development Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank Group, and the World Bank Group.
In another development, as of March 2022, the bank has financed over $1.4 billion worth of projects in Rwanda, of which $498 million has been directed towards energy projects.