Context The Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations (AACCSA) is the oldest and largest Chamber in Ethiopia (with around 17,000 members), representing a wide spectrum of businesses based in Addis Ababa which constitute more than 60% of all businesses operating in the country. AACCSA voices the needs of businesses and advocates for the […]
Context A large proportion of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Zimbabwe are run by women. While MSMEs are a key driver of economic growth in the country, loans dedicated to women-led enterprises are still very low, partially due to a lack of acceptable collateral and a lack of information on financing services. The […]
Context The Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) facilitates economic growth and development across all sectors and includes all Jamaicans, regardless of socio-economic strata, in its quest to meet the Vision 2030 goal of making Jamaica “the place of choice to live, work, raise families and do business. To this end, DBJ provides access to low-cost […]
Context Contributions of women to the promotion and growth of the MSME sector and the development and productivity of the economy is recognised in Nigeria’s National Policy on MSMEs (2021-2025), which considers women-owned enterprises as special target enterprises. It is well documented that women-owned enterprises generally lag in the MSME sector for several reasons including […]
Context Malawi is one of the most climate-vulnerable countries in the world. It is particularly prone to droughts and floods which have increased in frequency and intensity over the last 20 years – recently, Cyclones Idai and Freddy. Research has evidenced the negative impact of climate related events on SME. Women-owned businesses are often disproportionately […]
Context Agricultural Finance Corporation (AFC) was established in 1963 and was incorporated in 1969 as a Government owned Development Finance Institution (DFI) incorporated under the Agricultural Finance Corprotion Act (Cap 323) of the laws of Kenya. The Corporation’s mandated is to assist in the development of agriculture and agricultural industries by making loans to farmers, […]
Context BNI is an investment bank and a Société à Participation Financière Publique Majoritaire (Company with majority public shareholding), and is authorised as a banking institution by the UEMOA (West African Economic and Monetary Union) Banking Commission and the CBWAS/BCEAO. It performs the triple function of investment bank, refinancing bank and advisory bank in Côte […]
Context There is a high proportion of informal women-led micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the Federated States of Micronesia. Formalisation of these women-led MSMEs is made difficult because of existing restrictions to accessing commercial finance, partially due to the level of financial literacy and level of asset ownership among women. The Federated States […]
Context Namibia has a relatively high proportion of financially included women compared to its peers in the region. Nevertheless, women and women-led businesses still face constraints to accessing formal financing, partially due to collateral requirement and financial literacy. The Environmental Investment Fund of Namibia (EIF) has requested support from the ICR Facility to review […]
Context EKDIPA is the investment promotion agency of the Nigerian state of Ekiti. Its mission is to initiate, promote, coordinate and create a conducive environment for investments and development in the State. The Agency is seeking to gather gender-sensitive sectoral data for the purposes of investment promotion (e.g. through sector profiles and other investment promotion […]
Context KADIPA is a one-stop investment centre for businesses and investments and is located in Kaduna State, Nigeria. It is mandated to initiate, promote, facilitate and coordinate investments as well as to develop and implement comprehensive strategies to attract development-oriented investments. KADIPA was established by the Kaduna Investment Promotion Agency Law in 2015. It embraced […]
Context The Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) has already received support from the ICR Facility to set up its High Business Council (HBC), which was launched in October 2022. The creation of the HBC was one of the priorities of ECCAS’s Strategic Plan for 2021-2025. The HBC aims to strengthen cohesion around the […]
