The Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) has announced a new round of funding under which the African Development Bank’s Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility (ADFI) will receive $15 million to develop and extend digital financial solutions to women-owned small and medium businesses in Cameroon, Egypt, Kenya, Mozambique and Nigeria.
This fourth round of financing of $54.8 million 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 programs to improve digital access to finance for women entrepreneurs, reducing the $42 billion financing gap, and improving their operational efficiency to build back better following the COVID-19 crisis.
Bärbel Kofler, Parliamentary State Secretary of Germany’s Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, said the funding came at an opportune time and will help address major challenges facing women in most developing economies.
“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. I am pleased to see our Implementing Partners preparing such strong proposals to support women-led businesses. Access to technology and financing will be key to unlock the potential of women entrepreneurs”.
Bärbel Kofler
Likewise, Stefan Nalletamby, Director of the Financial Sector Development Department at the African Development Bank Group, expounded on the exact areas to which the funds will be used.
“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”.
Stefan Nalletamby
The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) disclosed 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.
The Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative
We-Fi, hosted by the World Bank Group, is a partnership among 14 governments, eight multilateral development banks (MDBs), and other public and private sector stakeholders. The African Development Bank is an implementing partner, and its Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa program is a We-Fi initiative.
The Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility (ADFI) on the other hand, is a Pan-African initiative designed to catalyze digital financial inclusion throughout Africa with the goal of ensuring that 332 million more Africans, 60% of them women, gain access to the formal economy by 2030.
Launched in 2019, ADFI works through the gender-intentional development of infrastructure, policies and regulations and product innovation. Current ADFI partners are the Agence française de developpement (AFD), the Ministry for the Economy & Finance, France; the Ministry of Finance, Luxembourg; the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the African Development Bank, who hosts and manages the facility.
READ ALSO: MTN Ghana Holds Lion’s Share Of MoMo Industry Prior To E-levy Implementation
