Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA), a pan-African initiative of the African Development Bank has said that its goal is to mobilize $5 billion in financing for African women-led businesses by 2026.
The Director General for African Development Bank Nigeria Country Department, Lamin Barrow stated this during the fifth (5th) AFAWA Finance Series held in Lagos to unlock financing for women entrepreneurs.
Barrow said that the Bank’s AFAWA initiative seeks to increase women’s access to finance in the continent by closing the $42 billion financing gap for women-led small and medium enterprises.
He noted that the AFAWA Finance Series is a component of the African Development Bank’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative that brings together government representatives, policymakers, and financial institution leaders to offer an introduction to AFAWA’s partnership services for the Nigerian market.
Speaking during the opening ceremony on behalf of the Honourable Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, Grace Ogbonna, the Acting Permanent Secretary/Director Economic Research and Policy Management Department, Federal Ministry of Finance, said that:
African Guarantee Fund’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Jules Ngankam, said:
He commended the government of Nigeria for taking steps in promoting women-led small and medium enterprises and noted that the AGF through the AFAWA initiative is eager to collaborate with the government and policymakers to further transform the environment to make it more conducive for women entrepreneurs.
The Lagos event, follows the AFAWA Finance Series in Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, and Angola.