Continuing the spirit of International Women’s Day, the African Development Bank (AfDB) is promoting women’s entrepreneurship and innovation across the continent
In Abidjan, more than 100 women entrepreneurs from Cote d’Ivoire assembled at the Bank’s headquarters for a closing ceremony, following their participation in master classes in business model development and financial planning earlier this year. The classes were organized by the Bank’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) programme and Entreprenarium, a foundation specialising in providing business support and access to finance for women and young entrepreneurs across Africa.
Speaking at the ceremony, Vanessa Moungar, director for gender, women and civil society at AfDB, said, “Women play a major role in Africa’s communities and economies, yet they face multiple obstacles in accessing the same opportunities as men.”
Throughout the month of March, the Bank will roll out various events to acknowledge the importance of strengthening women’s skills and building their entrepreneurial capacity.
Strengthening women’s digital skills is another of the key priorities of the programme. On 25 March 2019, the Bank will launch the first all-women training group of the Coding for Employment Program in Nigeria, set up to increase the number of women coders and accelerate gender equality and empowerment for women and girls in the digital era.
Across Africa, many women and girls continue to face significant barriers to accessing and using technology. This often results in low digital literacy and loss of economic opportunities for women.
The Bank’s Coding for Employment programme will equip 100 women and girls between the ages of 15 and 35 with the necessary Information and Communications Technology (ICT) skills, as well as soft skills, to secure future employment opportunities.
Finally, the Bank will organise a workshop on 28-29 March 2019 in South Africa on affirmative procurement for women, to explore how to develop mechanisms to help women-led and women-run enterprises access Bank procurement contracts.
