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Browsing: SMEs
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 …
Rwanda has become a role model for other African countries…
Agri-SMEs in East Africa face an acute need for finance tailored to their specific requirements.…
AfCFTA must be an engine for growth as much as an engine for inclusion.…
The trade finance gap remains unacceptably high at US$81 billion as of 2019.…
South Africa’s declining GDP is expected to set back efforts to address unemployment, poverty and inequality according to a new United Nations Development Programme study on the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 in South Africa by at least five years.
The gross domestic product (GDP) of South Africa is expected to  5.1 per cent and 7.9 per cent in 2020 and recover slowly for at least the next four years.
The study was launched by  Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma South Africa’s Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
The study focused on how COVID-19 will drive temporary and long-term changes in poverty levels in the country. According to the study, the number of households below the poverty line will increase as households fall from the lower middle class.
As South Africa’s  6-month stimulus packages come to an end, 54 per cent of households that have been pushed out of the permanent job …
