$15 million for ADFI to aid digital financial solutions for women-owned SMEs

5 May 2022

The ADFI will receive $15 million to make digital financial solutions more inclusive for women-owned SMEs in Africa

The African Digital Financial Inclusion Facility (ADFI) will receive $15 million to make digital financial solutions more inclusive for women-owned small and medium enterprises in Africa

The Women’s Enterprise Finance Initiative (We-Fi), hosted by the World Bank Group, said the African Development Bank’s ADFI will receive $15 million to make digital financial solutions more inclusive for women-owned small and medium enterprises in Cameroon, Egypt, Kenya, Mozambique and Nigeria, according to a press release on 26 April 2022.

The African Development Bank estimates the gender gap in access to finance at $42 billion (financing gap).

In addition, the IMF and Hanan Morsy reported that women’s access to finance remains disproportionately low, with a 9% gap between men’s and women’s access to a bank account worldwide (11% in sub-Saharan Africa and 18% in North Africa).

In 2017, the OECD also noted that men are more likely than women to have access to finance to start a business, except in four countries, namely the United States, Greece, Mexico and Indonesia.

“Digital financial solutions are key to improving people’s quality of life in Africa and reducing the gender access-to-finance gap. This funding, which is complementary to the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa Initiative (AFAWA), will be used not only to broaden access to finance for women in small and medium businesses but also to provide an avenue for their increased economic empowerment and resilience,” Stefan Nalletamby, Director of the Financial Sector Development Department at the African Development Bank Group.

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