Deadline: 30Ăšme May 2021

The African Development Bank (AfDB) under its flagship project, Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) aims to bridge $42 billion financing gap for women entrepreneurs in Africa by leveraging on the Bank’s financial instruments through the AFAWA Guarantee for Growth, an innovative mechanism derisking women entrepreneurs and enhancing Financial Institutions’ appetite in lending to Women Small and Medium Enterprises (WSMEs).

These financial mechanisms are supported by the Bank through technical assistance to financial institutions and WSMEs to ensure that adequate products and services are developed to address women’s financial needs as well as adequate knowledge to build bankable and sustainable projects.

The enablers must demonstrate increased access to finance, skills, and mentorship. The Bank seeks proposals that demonstrate the following themes:

  1. Track record in supporting women SMEs;
  2.  Innovation and strong development impact;
  3.  Mobilization of additional funding;
  4.  Partnership with both public and private sectors;
  5.  Additionality and value for money;
  6.  Long term plan and sustainability;
  7. Collaboration between two or several applicant enablers.

The minimum threshold for requesting funding from this call for proposal is $100,000 and the maximum threshold is $250,000.

Countries Eligible

Cameroon, Congo, Democratic Republique of Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, Rwanda, Zambia to align with the ongoing AFAWA Guarantee for Growth Program pipeline.

More information about this call is available at: https://www.afdb.org/sites/default/files/afdb-afawa_women_enablers_call_for_proposals_30042021_english_version_.pdf