The African Development Bank, as part of its African Women’s Access to Finance Initiative (AFAWA), is partnering with Entrepreneur to build the capacity of 1,000 women entrepreneurs on the continent.
Over the next four months, training sessions on business development and financial management will be conducted by Entreprenarium in five countries, in Côte d’Ivoire (Abidjan) and Gabon (Libreville) for the first session, which will start in December 10, 2018, Kenya (Nairobi), South Africa (Johannesburg) and Tunisia (Tunis). The most promising business projects will be eligible for funding. At the same time, the policy is to improve women’s entrepreneurship and women’s economic empowerment.
“This initiative fits perfectly with AFAWA’s holistic approach to supporting women’s entrepreneurship.” In addition, we are not only providing women entrepreneurs with the essential knowledge and skills. business environment, which frees up their entrepreneurial capacity, “said Vanessa Moungar, director of the gender, women and civil society department of the African Development Bank.
The African continent has the highest percentage of women entrepreneurs in the world. According to the 2016-17 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report, the female entrepreneurship rate in sub-Saharan Africa is 25.9% of the female adult population. In addition, women reinvest up to 90% of their income in the education, health and nutrition of their families and communities – compared to 30% to 40% for people – creating a greater impact on the economic and social development of the continent.
Despite the dynamism of women’s entrepreneurship and the role played by women entrepreneurs in Africa’s economic growth, they still face many obstacles and often lack the skills required to manage their business, to access financing, whether at the stage of creation or development of their activities. While African SMEs are the cornerstone of inclusive development on the continent, women at $ 42 billion for all value chains, including $ 15.6 billion dollars for the agriculture sector alone.
