African Development Bank/Entreprenarium Foundation 2018/2019 Masterclass for women entrepreneurs in Africa.

Application Deadline: December 4th 2018

As part of its Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) program, the African Development Bank is partnering with Entreprenarium Foundation to train 1,000 women entrepreneurs in Africa.

Over the next four months, Entreprenarium will roll out training sessions on business development and financial management in five countries, beginning with Cote d’Ivoire (Abidjan) and Gabon (Libreville) on 10 December; followed by sessions in Kenya (Nairobi), South Africa (Johannesburg) and Tunisia (Tunis). The most promising projects will have the opportunity to receive funding.

Alongside the training, The Bank and AFAWA will strengthen policy dialogue on the legal, policy and regulatory reforms necessary to promote women’s entrepreneurship and economic empowerment.

“This initiative truly represents AFAWA’s holistic approach to support women’s entrepreneurship…We are not only providing businesswomen the critical knowledge and skills they need to boost their businesses, but also facilitating their access to financing, while establishing dialogue with governments to create business environments that unleash their entrepreneurial capacity,” said Vanessa Moungar, Director of the Bank’s Gender, Women and Civil Society Department.

The African continent hosts the highest percentage of women entrepreneurs in the world. According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2016/17 Women’s Report, female entrepreneurship rate in sub-Saharan Africa reaches 25.9 percent of the female adult population.

Women typically reinvest up to 90 percent of their income in the education, health and nutrition of their family and community – compared to 30 to 40 percent from men, demonstrating greater development impact.

Despite this dynamic entrepreneurial attitude and the key role that women entrepreneurs play in Africa’s economic development, they face a number of challenges and often lack necessary business and financial skills that will enable them to access funding based on the maturity of their businesses.

While the small and medium enterprise (SME) sector in Africa is the cornerstone of inclusive development, women have a harder time in gaining access to financing with an estimated US$42 billion financing gap for entrepreneurship across business value chains, including US$15.6 billion in agriculture alone.

Apply:

• Abidjan – urlz.fr/8bqa
• Libreville – http://goo.gl/uyQVev

For More Information:

Visit the Official Webpage of the ADB/Entreprenarium Foundation 2018/2019 Masterclass