AfDB arranges $300 million finance for African women entreprenuers

The African Development Bank Group (AfDB) is investing $300million to finance African women in business at its on-going 51st Annual Meetings, taking place in Lusaka, Zambia.

The announcement was made at a session on barriers to women in business in Africa. Tagged “Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA),” the programme is aimed at addressing the challenges women face accessing finance.

Nicholas Norbrook, from the Paris-based publication, The Africa Report, who moderated the session, invited Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi the AfDB’s Special Envoy on Gender, to set the stage for the discussions.

“AFAWA is a new program of the AfDB, to demonstrate the Bank’s commitment to advancing the Gender Equality Agenda by, in particular, addressing the challenges that women face in an attempt to access finance,” announced Fraser-Moleketi.

In AFAWA, Fraser-Moleketi will lead the AfDB efforts to engage its partners in mobilizing funding of up to US $300 million to finance African women.

According to the bank, the full objective is to run a US $3-billion fund that will be available through the AfDB’s non-concessional window and channeled to worthy women through intermediary institutions.

“With that, AFAWA will help address the financing gaps estimated to be over US $30 billion that currently exist with respect to women’s access to finance,” the bank stated.