Browsing: African Guarantee Fund

• The AFAWA initiative seeks to increase women’s access to finance in the continent by bridging the $42 billion financing gap for women-led and owned small and medium enterprises.
• Since its inception just over two years ago, the AFAWA initiative has already approved $1.2 billion in funding for women-led enterprises in 32 African countries.
• Previous AFAWA Finance Series have been held in Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, Angola and Nigeria.

The African Development Bank through its Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative, in partnership with African Guarantee Fund (AGF) and in collaboration with the Office of the President’s Advisor on Women’s Rights, have inaugurated the 6th edition of the AFAWA Finance Series in Nairobi, Kenya.

In a three-day event themed “Enhancing Financial Inclusion for Women”, that ended on 23rd November, the initiative seeks to revolutionise the financial landscape and foster an enabling environment for women …

The African Development Bank’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) program agreed to partner with the African Guarantee Fund (AGF) to provide $1.3 to 2 billion in loans to women-owned Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Africa, by working with financial institutions to enhance their ability to lend to women.

This comes after the launch of AFAWA’s Guarantee for Growth (G4G) program whose objective is to make available up to $3 billion in financing for women entrepreneurs through de-risking and technical assistance measures. Financial institutions in  Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda are signing on to the program.

“As the implementing partner of AFAWA’s Guarantee for Growth program, we are already observing an increased appetite from banks for this innovative product that seeks to support women entrepreneurs. We have recently signed agreements with leading banks on the continent who are keen to increase their …