The African Development Bank estimates financing gap for African businesswomen is as large as $42 billion

The AfDB estimates that the financing gap for African businesswomen is as large as $42 billion, of which $15.6 billion is lacking for women in agriculture. To address this financing gap, particularly for African women entrepreneurs in the agriculture sector, the AfDB and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) aimed at promoting investments that benefit women in Africa.

The MoU signed on Tuesday May 22, 2017, during the 52nd Annual Meetings of the AfDB would leverage financing for the AfDB’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) programme, which aims at providing available, accessible and affordable financial services to women in business through selected financial institutions, the Bank says. The Bank hopes to leverage some $3 billion over a period of 10 years.“Women pay back loans. They are bankable, but the banking system does not lend to them. We want to change this; we want to de-risk the financial system and allow institutions to give loans to women. Together the AfDB and the IFC are showing confidence in women’s bankability,” says Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, the President of the African Development Bank (AfDB).