AfDB commits $3 billion for women entrepreneurs African Development Bank president Dr Akinwumi Adesina
African Development Bank president Akinwumi Adesina

African Development Bank president Akinwumi Adesina

Business Editor
THE African Development Bank (AfDB) has availed $3 billion to support women entrepreneurs across Africa in a bold recognition of their contribution to the economies in their countries.

Small to medium enterprises (SMEs) and cooperatives are taking centre stage as the future economic engine for the continent with women playing a critical role.

AfDB president Akinwumi Adesina announced the package to empower women during the on-going AfDB annual meetings in Lusaka, Zambia.

He told about 5,000 participants including heads of states and government who are discussing the social and economic development of Africa that the launching of the Affirmation Finance Action for Women “will dedicate $3 billion to support women entrepreneurs across Africa”, Africanews.com reported yesterday.

Access to funding remains a major hurdle to SMEs in Africa with major finance institutions reluctant to bankroll budding businesses. In Zimbabwe SMEs have become a pivotal force in alleviating poverty in the wake of closure of companies and loss of jobs in the formal sector.

It is estimated that about $5 billion could be circulating in the informal sector in the country with authorities struggling to tap tax revenues given the high levels of informality and absence of supporting infrastructure.

Among the high profiled delegates attending the AfDB indaba are Zambian president Edgar Lungu who opened the grand gathering, Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, Rwandan president Paul Kagame and Chadian president Idris Deby.

The five-day meetings began on Monday and end tomorrow.

Adesina said Africa’s raw material export model was a source of problems associated with wealth creation in the continent as it leaves countries at the bottom of the value chains.

He advised that “Africa needs to diversify its export mix and add value to all of its raw materials by developing efficient and competitive value chains”.

Adesina made reference to cocoa exports, which he said Africa accounts for 75 percent of its global production yet reaps only two percent of the $100 billion annual market of chocolate.

He said diversification was critical for Africa as the continent “only accounts for 1.9 percent of global value added in manufacturing and this has not changed for decades. It is now time to industrialise Africa.”

On development, the president of the African Development Bank said ambitious Africa must look inward and mobilise domestic resources to help drive its readiness for industrial development.

He, however, advised that to remain resilient, Africa must not get into debt crisis as many countries on the continent “face a challenge of high cost of financing the foreign currency denominated debt”.

The theme of this year’s meetings is “Energy and Climate Change”, and draws on one of the bank’s “High 5” priority areas, namely to “Light up and Power Africa”. It also reflects the bank’s new deal on energy and the key resolutions from the recent UN climate talks (COP21) on global warming.

The 2016 annual meetings theme is aligned with two of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): SDG 7 to “ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” and SDG 13 to “take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts”.

The bank’s annual meetings are its largest annual event, and its biggest window on the world. They bring together some 5,000 delegates and participants, and feature some 40 official events in addition to the annual meeting of the board of governors, which constitutes the core purpose of the meetings.

You Might Also Like

Comments