Browsing: women

Expensive loans
  • Women and youth in Kenya’s agricultural sector are set to benefit from new AfDB funding. 
  • Another $1.3 million has been set aside to support the youth and women entrepreneurs in Kenya’s agriculture value chains.
  • The funding was provided by the European Union in partnership with the AfDB.

Kenya’s women and youth in agriculture are set to benefit from fresh financing after the African Development Bank (AfDB) approved an equity investment of $19.65 million in the Africa Guarantee Fund (AGF).

Another $1.3 million will support the youth and women entrepreneurs engaged in the country’s agricultural value chains. The funding, approved on June 6, 2023, was provided by the European Union (EU) under its partnership with the AfDB.

“The approval is another milestone in the implementation of the partnership with the EU, which also signals the importance given to the role of women and youth in the agricultural sector in Kenya,” the …

African BUsiness Communities

On a broader scale, the United Nations argued that sub-Saharan Africa loses $95 billion yearly because of the gender gap in the labour market.

Multiple entities are recording the contribution of women to the Tanzania economy, including the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The NBS argue that 65 per cent of farmers are women and women head 33 per cent of households; political processes that promote women are mounting up over the decades.

Around 36 per cent of the national parliamentarians are women—however, legislative and financial barriers, as well as gender norms, hinder advancement.

On the other side of the fence, World Bank argues that Tanzania has made vital strides in expanding women’s economic opportunities over the past two decades.

“The female labour-force participation rate rose from 67 per cent in 2000 to 80 per cent in 2019, well above the average of 63 per cent for sub-Saharan Africa and …

The full blossom of the African girl child still has miles to go, with many girls still bearing the brunt of a string of heartbreaking complex misfortunes marauding the continent of untapped potential which can otherwise be harnessed to foster growth and development in diverse fields.  

Africa is renowned as home to some of the world’s fastest-growing economies and offers exciting frontiers for businesses looking for growth and new markets. However, gender inequality holds captive this massive potential.

According to McKinsey Global Institute, if Africa steps up its efforts now to close gender gaps, it can secure a substantial growth dividend in the process thereby accelerating progress toward parity which could boost African economies by the equivalent of 10% of their collective GDP by 2025.  Due to the failure to embrace gender diversity, millions of girls, women, and Africa’s overall social and economic progress will not reach its full potential.