Abidjan, Ivory Coast, April 9, 2024 -/African Media Agency (AMA)/-The African Development Bank and the African Guarantee Fund for Small and Medium Enterprises (African Guarantee Fund, AGF) concluded on Thursday March 28 2024 in Lomé, the AFAWA Finance Series Togo conference which aimed to better understand the financing needs of Togolese women entrepreneurs.
The event, organized over three days, mobilized 180 representatives of the local financial ecosystem, key players responsible for policy and regulation in favor of the financial inclusion of women as well as representatives of financial institutions, small and medium-sized businesses, incubators led or owned by women.
Specific training was provided to around thirty Togolese financial institutions. They thus strengthened the understanding of the AFAWA initiative, its guarantee mechanism, and demonstrated the commercial interest for financial institutions to better target women entrepreneurs by developing gender-sensitive product and service offerings. The objective was to better understand the needs of women entrepreneurs and to collectively address the challenge of their access to financing, while exploring the opportunities offered by the Guarantee for Growth program, designed by the African Development Bank Group through the through the Initiative to Promote Women’s Access to Finance in Africa (AFAWA), and implemented by the AGF. This innovative program aims to mobilize up to three billion US dollars in financing for small and medium-sized businesses led or owned by women through financial guarantees allocated to financial institutions to mitigate the risks associated with lending.
For Wilfried Abiola, director of the Bank’s country office in Togo, “the AFAWA initiative is not only a financial instrument. It aims to change the narrative, the perceptions, to transform the discourse that characterizes small and medium-sized businesses led and owned by women as risky businesses. AFAWA works to make these companies substantial investment opportunities for institutions, notably through the Guarantee for Growth program, designed by the Bank. »
According to Jules Ngankam, CEO of AGF, “AFAWA also aims to bring together players from the financial world and the public sector with the aim of strengthening human capital and financial capital so that women can reach their maximum potential and fully participate in the growth of our continent. We are very optimistic that the impact will be significant in the long term and will stimulate the growth of the economy in Togo. »
The financing gap for small and medium-sized businesses run or owned by women in Togo is around $45 million. Filling this deficit is a priority for the Togolese authorities who intend to strengthen the economic empowerment of women, boost the private sector, and thus support inclusive economic growth. “Thanks to government action, 25% of public contracts are today awarded to women and young people and, on the economic level, the government aims to resolve the problems of women and girls’ access to credit with the creation of the National Fund for Inclusive Finance which has supported more than 1.2 million women,” indicated Koffi Gani, chief of staff of the Togolese Minister of Social Action, the Promotion of Women and Literacy .
The AFAWA Finance Series Togo conference is part of a program of events organized across Africa to promote access to financing for businesses led or owned by women. It represents a significant step towards achieving the ambitious goal of funding women-led businesses to the tune of five billion dollars by 2026.
The African Development Bank, through the AFAWA initiative, has approved approximately $1.7 billion in cumulative investments and $54.5 million in technical assistance, and partnered with 96 financial institutions in 32 regional member countries. In total, more than 7,000 small and medium-sized businesses led or owned by women have benefited from its contribution in Africa.
AFAWA is supported by theInitiative of funding in favor of women entrepreneurs (We–Fi), the G7 member countries, namely France, Italy, Canada and Germany, as well as the Netherlands and Sweden.
Distributed by African Media Agency (AMA) for the African Development Bank.
Source : African Media Agency (AMA)
2024-04-09 09:47:12
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