Type of Recipient
Private sector
Region
Middle East and North Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa
Countries
Co-financing Requirement
No
Sectors and Themes
Gender
Climate Objective
Cross-cutting
Type of Support Provider
Multilateral
Trustee or Administrator
African Development Bank
Contact Information
Official Website
The Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) is a flagship initiative by the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) aimed at closing the $42 billion financing gap faced by women entrepreneurs across Africa. It seeks to unlock up to $5 billion in financing for women-led businesses by 2026, promoting gender-inclusive finance and empowering women to participate in Africa’s economic development fully by targeting three pillars:
Access to Finance:
- Utilizes AfDB’s financial instruments like lines of credit, trade finance, and equity investments.
- Introduced the AFAWA Guarantee for Growth (G4G), a pan-African risk-sharing mechanism to reduce collateral requirements and unlock up to $3 billion in financing for around 27,000 women-led businesses
Technical Assistance:
- Provides advisory services to financial institutions.
- Offers training and mentoring to women entrepreneurs to improve business productivity and financial literacy
Enabling Environment:
- Works with governments and regulators to reform policies that hinder women’s access to finance.
- Supports legal and regulatory changes to foster a more inclusive financial ecosystem
Purpose of Support
Strengthening enabling environments and stakeholder capacity
Funding Type
Loans (concessional and market-rate)
In-kind contributions
Eligibility Criteria
For Women-Owned/ Women-led Enterprises
A business must meet at least one of the following conditions:
- Ownership:
- At least 51% owned by a woman,
- Or at least 20% owned by a woman, and:
- Have at least one woman as CEO, COO, President, or Vice President,
- Have at least 30% of the board of directors comprised of women (if a board exists)
- Enterprise Size (for SME classification):
- Loan size between $5,000 and $1 million (up to $2 million in more advanced countries),
- Annual sales between $100,000 and $15 million,
- Total assets between $100,000 and $15 million
However, Organizations applying for AFAWA grants to support women entrepreneurs must:
- Be legally constituted institutions with at least three years of existence.
- Be Africa-based or demonstrate strong partnerships with African entities.
- Submit proposals that:
- Enhance access to finance for women-led SMEs,
- Provide capacity-building, mentorship, and visibility,
- Align with national or regional financial inclusion priorities,
- Demonstrate innovation, scalability, and long-term sustainability
More details can be found here
Eligible Countries
All countries in Africa.