The African Guarantee Fund (AGF) and Visa Foundation have signed a $2 million grant agreement to strengthen financing opportunities for women-led and women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) across Africa. The partnership aims to advance financial inclusion and promote women’s entrepreneurship on the continent.
The funding will directly support the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) Guarantee for Growth programme, an initiative designed to remove barriers women face in accessing capital. By combining loan guarantees with technical assistance, the programme encourages financial institutions to increase lending to women entrepreneurs, helping expand their businesses and build resilience.
AGF CEO Jules Ngankam highlighted that the partnership will boost capacity and unlock new lending opportunities for women, contributing to job creation and sustainable growth. Visa Foundation President Graham Macmillan emphasized that the initiative aligns with Visa’s mission to advance financial inclusion, noting that the grant will scale AFAWA’s impact by mobilizing private capital and creating more opportunities for women-owned businesses.
According to the African Development Bank, women entrepreneurs in Africa face a financing gap of over $42 billion. Despite owning nearly a third of businesses on the continent, they receive less than 10% of available credit. Structural challenges such as lack of collateral, gender bias in lending, and limited access to networks continue to hinder their growth.
AFAWA, launched by the African Development Bank and implemented in part by AGF, tackles this challenge by providing risk-sharing guarantees to financial institutions alongside capacity-building support. The new grant from Visa Foundation strengthens this mechanism, enabling AGF to de-risk loans and expand support to more women entrepreneurs. If successful, the partnership could accelerate women’s economic contributions, close the financing gap, and promote broader financial inclusion across Africa.
