
<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1110" height="540" src="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/AFAWA_AfDB-1110x540.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-351333" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/AFAWA_AfDB-1110x540.jpg 1110w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/AFAWA_AfDB-300x146.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/AFAWA_AfDB-820x399.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/AFAWA_AfDB-768x374.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/AFAWA_AfDB-1536x747.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/AFAWA_AfDB-696x339.jpg 696w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/AFAWA_AfDB-1068x520.jpg 1068w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/AFAWA_AfDB-863x420.jpg 863w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/AFAWA_AfDB.jpg 1700w" sizes="(max-width: 1110px) 100vw, 1110px" /></figure>



<p>By Angelique Kidjo</p>



<p>In African cultures, women play a nurturing role, they are the backbone of the continent. Yet, they face a $42 billion-dollar financing gap with over 3/4 of them being financially excluded.</p>



<p>This means that when it comes to lending money,
women are systematically seen as high-risk by financial institutions. In
Africa, viable guarantees often come in the form of land and properties, both
of which are rarely accessible to women. Land is, indeed, the most critical
economic resource for the vast majority of the population in rural areas who
depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. Yet, throughout many African
countries, women have less access, control, and ownership of this key assets
and their land rights are less secure. This often limits women&#8217;s economic
opportunities and leaves them more vulnerable to poverty.</p>



<p>As a result of this systemic discrimination
against women, access to financial services disproportionately favours men. For
instance, in Africa men have 50% more global wealth than women and run more
than 86% of businesses. Local barriers are also erected in front of African
women: most of them at the continental level operate in informal sectors or
very rural areas with limited banking facilities, making easy access to finance
almost unheard of. This is a market failure that must be addressed to ensure
equal access to banking and ultimately equal rights.</p>



<p>The capital lost because of the financial
exclusion of women is deeply affecting our economy and most importantly, deeply
impacting our societies. When you are struggling to make ends meet, to put a
meal on the table, to raise your kids, why wouldn’t you try to go to Europe,
despite the risks and the thousands of lives lost at sea?</p>



<p>The AFAWA initiative is a direct response to
the challenges faced by women in Africa, and the need to unlock access to
finance. It is a major step in the right direction for women all over Africa,
but it is certainly not the end of the battle. AFAWA’s primary end
beneficiaries are African women’s enterprises across the continent, often
neglected by the traditional banking system. A more equal – and gender equal –
Africa is not just a political ideal. It will have a ripple effect on Africa’s
development and human capital. It will lay the foundations for a resilient,
prosperous and forward-looking Africa.</p>



<p>The goal here is to work towards eliminating
these structural and cultural barriers, creating wealth, generating growth, and
supporting female entrepreuneurship. It is surely the first of many steps
towards women’s empowerment, which will ultimately lead to economic growth
across the entire continent. But banks and governments need to act, and act
now, for women to be empowered, for these inequalities to be resolved, and for
the economy to grow.</p>



<p>Women in Africa are the heartbeat of the
continent, they are the agents of long lasting change. If we want to invest in
the future, we need to empower women by investing in them. </p>



<p>Of course, we know that the AFAWA initiative
alone will not by itself tear down the many hurdles inhibiting women’s
abilities and opportunities. However, I believe that this initiative can
significantly shape the future of Africa. </p>


AFAWA_AfDB

Op-Ed: How the AFAWA initiative is empowering women to propel Africa forward


<p><strong>Kigali, Rwanda, 25 November 2019 –</strong> African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina has called for greater access to finance for African women when he addressed the inaugural session of the Global Gender Summit.</p>



<p>&#8220;When women borrow, they
always repay. And 90% of them repay their loans without the least problem. So,
where is the risk? The problem is prejudice and the banks&#8217; lack of flexibility.
We must leave this behind to allow women access to financing,&#8221; President
Adesina urged.</p>



<p>The session headed &#8220;<strong>Unlocking women&#8217;s access
to finance in Africa</strong>&#8221; had a panel of high-level speakers,
including Salimata Diop Dieng, the Senegalese Minister of Women, Family and
Gender; Andrew Temu, President of the African Guarantee Fund; Kennedy Uzoka,
President and CEO of United Bank of Africa (UBA); Joséphine Anan-Ankomah, CEO
of Ecobank Group; and Christine Ngiriye, an entrepreneur.</p>



<p>Salimata Diop Deng said,
&#8220;It is important that financial institutions support initiatives from
women. They have the market gardens and produce to process. They create
start-ups in innovative areas. But they lack resources and collateral, and the
procedures for accessing loans are complicated. These women have relatively
moderate finance needs, just enough to create projects and jobs. They need
support from the private sector and the banks to help them weave their way into
the economy.&#8221;</p>



<p>Andrew Temu advocated
&#8220;holding discussions with countries to improve the business environment.
What is especially needed is legislation that reassures the banks. There are a
number of actors, banks, investors, entrepreneurs and clients operating within
the economic market. Everyone needs to be in communication to address the
risks.&#8221;</p>



<p>For Anan-Ankomah, ECOBANK is
already making big strides to gender parity. The pan-African bank has signed up
to the African Union gender parity principle of 50/50. “Currently we are at 46%
and out of that, 30% of those women are in senior management positions,” she
said.</p>



<p>Ngiriye said that she had seen
little change in nearly 30 years: &#8220;The problem that comes up again and
again is that of collateral.”</p>



<p>According to Adesina the
financial sector had a responsibility to the women of Africa. And he made an
announcement: &#8220;From now on, we shall be grading every African financial
institution for how well it helps women. Every financial ecosystem must evolve
to support women. And we are going to put pressure on the guarantee
banks.&#8221;</p>



<p>The African Development Bank and the government of Rwanda are hosting the Global Gender Summit from 25 to 27 November in Kigali. The Summit is being organised by the Multilateral Development Banks’ (MDBs) Working Group on gender for the first time in Africa.</p>



<p><em>Content provided by African Development Bank </em></p>


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Global Gender Summit 2019: “Put prejudice behind us and give women access to finance” says Akinwumi Adesina

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<p>CNBC Africa spoke with Anne-Marie Levesque, gender equality Advisor at FinDev Canada about their work with encouraging and implementing female entrepreneurship in East Africa.</p>


Global Gender Summit: Anne-Marie Levesque on encouraging female entrepreneurship

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<p>CNBC Africa spoke with Jennifer Blanke, Vice President Agriculture, Human and Social Development at the African Development Bank Group on the side-lines of the Global Gender Summit in Kigali about what can be done further to unpack constraints towards gender equality in Africa.</p>


Global Gender Summit: AfDB on tackling barriers to empowerment

Global Gender Summit: AfDB on tackling barriers to empowerment, gender equality on the continent

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<p>CNBC Africa spoke with Nyakan June, CEO and Founder of Timeless Women of Wonder at the Global Gender Summit in Kigali, June spoke on the changes that need to be done to move the campaigning of women empowerment and equality on the continent.</p>


Global Gender Summit: Nyakan June speaks on the state of gender equality

Global Gender Summit: Nyakan June speaks on the state of gender equality, financial inclusion in Africa

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<p>The Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) has set its target on bridging the $42 billion finance gap women face on the continent, CNBC Africa&#8217;s Arnold Kwizera spoke to Director of Gender, Women and Civil Society at the African Development Bank, Vanessa Moungar for more.</p>


Global Gender Summit: AFAWA targets $42bn to bridge finance gap for African women

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<p>Can real gender equality ever come about without more women in decision making positions? On the side-lines of the 2019 Global Gender Summit in Kigali, Rwanda, CNBC Africa spoke to ONE Africa Ambassadors, Dr. Joannie Marlene Bewa and Merlene Rossouw for their take.</p>


Global Gender Summit: How to bridge gender inequality in leadership positions

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<p>The Chairman of Africa Guarantee Fund (AGF), Andrew Temu says they have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Attijariwafa Bank to leverage over $50 Million to serve women-owned and managed enterprises in North Africa. CNBC Africa&#8217;s Kenneth Igbomor caught up with Andrew Temu on the sidelines of the Global Gender Summit in Kigali.</p>


Global Gender Summit: AGF & Attijariwafa Bank sign MoU to fund women- owned businesses in Africa

Global Gender Summit: AGF & Attijariwafa Bank sign MoU to fund women-owned businesses in Africa

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<p>The CEO of Nigeria&#8217;s Bank of Industry Olukayode Pitan says the idea of the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa is to make lenders do more for women. CNBC Africa&#8217;s Kenneth Igbomor caught up with him on the sidelines of the Global Gender Summit after they signed a letter of intent on the AFAWA risk-sharing facility.</p>


Global Gender Summit:  AFAWA: Nigeria’s Bank of Industry signs letter of intent

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<p>French President, Emmanuel Macron and G7 leaders approved a $251 million package in support of African Development Bank&#8217;s (AfDB) Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative earlier in August. CNBC Africa&#8217;s Kenneth Igbomor spoke to Phillipe Lacoste, Director for Sustainable Development at the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs to discuss the importance of this initiative for Africa.</p>


Global Gender Summit: Phillipe Lacoste: There is more political will to lend more to women

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<p>There have been conversations on expanding women&#8217;s access to financial services and support to women led initiatives. Solomon Lartey, Managing Director at ACTIVA International Insurance Company In Ghana Ltd joins CNBC Africa on insuring assets.</p>


Global Gender Summit: How making insurance policies inclusive expand womens’ access to financial services

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<p>Statistics indicate that women make up over 40 per cent of African business owners yet a trivial 2 per cent are able to access finance according to figures from Mckinsey. Director of Macroeconomics, Forecasting and Research at African Development Bank (AfDB), Hanan Morsy joins CNBC Africa to discuss women economic participation and empowerment.</p>


Global Gender Summit: AfDB’s Hanan Morsy on how to improve economic participation for women in Africa


<p>“What a man can do, a woman can do just as well,” Jeannette Kagame, First Lady of Rwanda</p>



<p>“History will judge us if we don’t work together to take action now,” Chief Executive Officer of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu</p>



<p>Kigali, Rwanda, 26 November, 2019 – “Investments in gender equality are critical to realizing demographic dividend, but we need to ensure that women have the tools to overcome the barriers they face,”  First Lady of Rwanda, Jeannette Kagame told participants at a panel at the Global Gender Summit in Kigali on Monday.</p>



<p>The panel, made up of First Ladies Kagame, Margaret Kenyatta, ministers and development experts, observed that too many women and girls still face barriers to basic rights, particularly access to labour market opportunities.</p>



<p>Rwanda’s First Lady recalled the role women played following the 1994 Genocide against Tutsi, where a number of families were wiped out, with women in many cases being the ones catering for families.</p>



<p>“What a man can do, a woman can do just as well,” she added.</p>



<p>She described the Summit as an important platform to highlight issues of women equality. </p>



<p>Rwanda has implemented gender several inclusive programs, which has enhanced economic equality in a country where women political participation has grown to 61% percent.</p>



<p>First Lady Kenyatta called for the removal of institutional barriers to accelerate women’s economic empowerment, “It has become urgent for Africa to translate its demographic dividend into viable potential.” </p>



<p>“This is the spirit of Africa’s vision to accelerate its path to sustainable socio-economic development. Our collective commitment to ‘leave no one behind’ is a new chapter in our struggle towards achieving gender equality.”</p>



<p>The panel heard that impediments to gender equality include lack of access to credit, low representation in decision making positions, lack of control over productive land and lack of financial control to make spending decisions on education and health.</p>



<p>Minister of Solidarity, Social Development, Equality and Family Jamila El Moussali of Morocco, shared experiences from Morocco where policies have been introduced to increase women&#8217;s political and economic participation.</p>



<p>The Chief Executive Officer of the Tony Elumelu Foundation, Ifeyinwa Ugochukwu, called on stakeholders to come together to leverage each other’s strengths “translate women dreams into reality. History will judge us if we don’t work together to take action now.”</p>



<p>The African Development Bank and the government of Rwanda are hosting the Global Gender Summit from 25 to 27 November in Kigali. The Summit is being organised by the Multilateral Development Banks’ (MDBs) Working Group on gender for the first time in Africa.</p>



<p>Content provided by the African Development Bank </p>


VW_GlobalGenderSummit_2019

First ladies’ panel seeks urgent policies to translate Africa’s demographic dividend into viable potential

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<p>One of the ways to help women leverage their potential is to make the work environment safe. Barbara Rambousek, Director of Gender and Economic Inclusion at the European Bank joins CNBC Africa for more.</p>


Global Gender Summit: Barbara Rambousek of European Bank on creating women-friendly workplaces

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<p>One of the highlights of the Global Gender Summit in Kigali was the launch of the African Development Bank&#8217;s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA). This is a risk-sharing facility that aims to close the $42 billion gender-credit gap for women enterprises in Africa. CNBC Africa&#8217;s Kenneth Igbomor caught up with President of African Development Bank, Akinwumi Adesina to discuss this initiative.</p>


African Development Bank President denies allegations of ill-governance

Global Gender Summit: AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina on how AFAWA aims to close gender-credit gap for women

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<p>The government of Rwanda through its minister of finance yesterday committed herself to contribution of $1 million to the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) Risk-Sharing Facility on the sidelines of the ongoing Global Gender Summit. CNBC africa&#8217;s Arnold Kwizera spoke to Minister of Finance and Economic Planning, Uzziel Ndagijiminana for more.</p>


Global Gender Summit: Rwanda commits $1mn contribution to AFAWA

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<p>The Group Managing Director and CEO of United Bank of Africa (UBA), Kennedy Uzoka says financial inclusion goes beyond owning a mobile phone. Uzoka was highlighting ways to get more African women into the financial system on the sidelines of the Global Gender Summit in Rwanda. He joins CNBC Africa’s Kenneth Igbomor for more.</p>


Global Gender Summit

Op-Ed: How the AFAWA initiative is empowering women to propel Africa forward

Global Gender Summit 2019: “Put prejudice behind us and give women access to finance” says Akinwumi Adesina

Global Gender Summit: Anne-Marie Levesque on encouraging female entrepreneurship

Global Gender Summit: AfDB on tackling barriers to empowerment, gender equality on the continent

Global Gender Summit: Nyakan June speaks on the state of gender equality, financial inclusion in Africa

Global Gender Summit: AFAWA targets $42bn to bridge finance gap for African women

Global Gender Summit: How to bridge gender inequality in leadership positions

Global Gender Summit: AGF & Attijariwafa Bank sign MoU to fund women-owned businesses in Africa

Global Gender Summit: AFAWA: Nigeria’s Bank of Industry signs letter of intent

Global Gender Summit: Phillipe Lacoste: There is more political will to lend more to women

Global Gender Summit: How making insurance policies inclusive expand womens’ access to financial services

Global Gender Summit: AfDB’s Hanan Morsy on how to improve economic participation for women in Africa

First ladies’ panel seeks urgent policies to translate Africa’s demographic dividend into viable potential

Global Gender Summit: Barbara Rambousek of European Bank on creating women-friendly workplaces

Global Gender Summit: AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina on how AFAWA aims to close gender-credit gap for women

Global Gender Summit: Rwanda commits $1mn contribution to AFAWA

Global Gender Summit: UBA’s Kennedy Uzoka on how to expand financial inclusion for African women

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Global Gender Summit

Op-Ed: How the AFAWA initiative is empowering women to propel Africa forward

Global Gender Summit 2019: “Put prejudice behind us and give women access to finance” says Akinwumi Adesina

Global Gender Summit: Anne-Marie Levesque on encouraging female entrepreneurship

Global Gender Summit: AfDB on tackling barriers to empowerment, gender equality on the continent

Global Gender Summit: Nyakan June speaks on the state of gender equality, financial inclusion in Africa

Global Gender Summit: AFAWA targets $42bn to bridge finance gap for African women

Global Gender Summit: How to bridge gender inequality in leadership positions

Global Gender Summit: AGF & Attijariwafa Bank sign MoU to fund women-owned businesses in Africa

Global Gender Summit: AFAWA: Nigeria’s Bank of Industry signs letter of intent

Global Gender Summit: Phillipe Lacoste: There is more political will to lend more to women

Global Gender Summit: How making insurance policies inclusive expand womens’ access to financial services

Global Gender Summit: AfDB’s Hanan Morsy on how to improve economic participation for women in Africa

First ladies’ panel seeks urgent policies to translate Africa’s demographic dividend into viable potential

Global Gender Summit: Barbara Rambousek of European Bank on creating women-friendly workplaces

Global Gender Summit: AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina on how AFAWA aims to close gender-credit gap for women

Global Gender Summit: Rwanda commits $1mn contribution to AFAWA

Global Gender Summit: UBA’s Kennedy Uzoka on how to expand financial inclusion for African women

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