Paltry 4.3pc of African women access credit

Arusha. Only 4.3 per cent of women entrepreneurs in Africa have access to loans, much lower compared to men. This emerged after the visit to the financial institutions in Kenya and Rwanda by technical experts from the East African Community (EAC) secretariat.

The delegation visited the two countries recently to engage the financial institutions on the implementation of 50 million African Women Speak Networking Platform (50MWS) project.

“On average only 4.3 per cent of women entrepreneurs have access to financial services like loans in Africa,” affirmed project coordinator Wilson Muyenzi.

EAC director of Social Services Mary Makoffu said the project was designed to facilitate women to access finance like men, but for this case through an online platform. “Women are the pillars of our shaky economies and need to be supported in the interests of the whole society,” she said.

The EAC official regretted that many women on the continent still lagged far behind in accessing financial services like loans and bank accounts.

While in Kenya, the country’s deputy director in the Gender ministry Verity Mganga pleaded for full support of women in the endeavour, noting they were still at the bottom end. “We must take cognisance of the ability of our financial institutions to promote financial inclusion,” she pointed out. In Rwanda, the project has been hailed as coming to complement efforts already underway to engage women in income generation activities in the fight against unemployment.

Rwanda, one of the fastest growing economies in Africa, has embarked on a plan to create 1.5 million jobs by 2024, half of which target women and girls.

However, most of the women targeted lack skills that would enable them to utilise the opportunity that comes with 50MWS project fully.

“I urge the implementers of the project to prioritise building the capacity of women entrepreneurs to empower them economically,” said Jean Bosco Murangira, a senior official in the Women Empowerment ministry.

He noted that one of the biggest challenges that women entrepreneurs face was lack of capital and business mindset. 50MWS is a continent wide online platform to support women entrepreneurs launched recently with the support of the African Development Bank (AfDB).

Under it, targeted women entrepreneurs across Africa, including the EAC bloc, would be provided with financial and non-financial information to enable themgrow their businesses.