African Guarantee Fund and Visa Foundation have signed a USD 2 million grant agreement that will go towards bridging the financing gap for women-led and owned small and medium-sized enterprises (WSMEs) across Africa.
This partnership will help scale the African Development Bank’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative, through its Guarantee for Growth program, which aims to address systemic inequities and eliminate barriers that women entrepreneurs face in accessing capital to grow and scale their businesses. Currently, women entrepreneurs represent 58% of Africa’s self-employed population and contribute close to 20% of the continent’s GDP, yet they still face an estimated USD 49 billion funding gap. Research shows that investing in women entrepreneurs can help unlock USD 15 trillion into the African economy.
Speaking at the official signing, AGF Group Chief Executive Officer, Jules Ngankam emphasized that this partnership represents another turning point in AGF’s mission to unlock financing for African SMEs. Jules said, “By focusing on women entrepreneurs, we are not only driving financial inclusion but also catalyzing broader economic and social transformation, as women consistently reinvest in their families and communities.” With the grant dedicated exclusively to the AFAWA initiative, AGF underscores the importance of building capacity for women entrepreneurs. “We are not just providing guarantees, with the additional technical assistance support from our Capacity Development program, we will be able to build capacity and expand lending at scale, driving job creation and business resilience across the continent,” he added.
Through a combination of loan guarantees and technical assistance, the partnership will enable AGF’s Partner Financial Institutions (PFIs) to significantly increase lending to women entrepreneurs. Through this support, AGF will be able to play its part in closing the gender financing gap, unlock private capital and build capacity among both PFIs and WSMEs. This support from Visa Foundation will help scale AFAWA’s solutions that address barriers women entrepreneurs face and expand opportunities for sustainable growth.
“AGF is a proven leader, dedicated to empowering women entrepreneurs, and we are thrilled to partner with them to scale their AFAWA initiative to support even more entrepreneurs,” said Graham Macmillan, President, Visa Foundation. “Their dedication to financial inclusion resonates with Visa Foundation’s mission to ensure entrepreneurs everywhere thrive.”
Through the AFAWA initiative, AGF has so far unlocked nearly USD 1 billion in loans to more than 14,000 women-owned/led businesses across the continent, helping entrepreneurs across Africa have access to financial resources and opportunities to drive prosperity growth on the continent.