The African Development Bank Group notes a $42 billion financing gap for small and medium-sized enterprises owned by African women, posing a significant obstacle to economic development and overall wellbeing.
Efforts by Tony Elumelu Foundation, Bank of Industry (BOI), W Initiative by Access Bank, having over 10 banks run by women, women taking ownership and creating ventures that fund women owned business, such as ARUWA and Money Africa, while laudable, is still a drop in the ocean in a Nation like ours. Yet, we need more interventions.
This project intent is to interrogate the overwhelming gaps and contextualise and situate what we face into the interventions to foster the mainstreaming of gender – Financial inequalities for female entrepreneurs lead to limited access to capital, reduced business expansion opportunities, and a perpetuation of gender disparities in economic empowerment. This continues to hinder the growth of women-led businesses, limit job creation, and contribute to a broader cycle of economic inequality within the region.
Addressing these disparities is crucial for fostering a more inclusive and sustainable business environment. Environment of business scalability is also expensive to run with bills, taxes, resources that at are competent with capacity, infrastructure and security requires evaluation when reviewing loans and funding for women led businesses.
For more details on the findings, please send an email to project@heir.com.ng
Añuli Aniebo.