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African Guarantee Fund (AGF) hastoday qualified as a 2X Collaborative.
This follows the AGF’s longstanding commitment to be the leading non-banking financial
institution meeting Africa’s SMEs financing needs.
The 2X challenge accreditation is awarded to organizations that aim to advance opportunities for women through enterprise support,leadership and career progression, quality employment and products that enhance women economic participation.
The 2X Collaborative accreditation was gained through AGF’s commitment to encompass a
minimum of 30% women in senior management, over 40% women inclusion under their
employment and purposing to support women-owned and women-led businesses through one
of their guarantee initiatives AFAWA (Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa), that offers
a multi-pronged approach to address the constraints women entrepreneurs face in Africa.
Women are the backbone of both the African community and the African economy, yet they face
the largest financing gap.
Female entrepreneurs face several challenges including a high lending risk, prohibitive interest rates, lack of collateral, participative hindrances posed by the current legal and regulatory frameworks in place, as well as the low affinity of financial institutions to appropriately respond to the African entrepreneurs needs.
The AFAWA initiative bridges the finance gap for the African female entrepreneur by leveraging
the Banks financial instruments thus increasing lending to women, offering technical assistance
through advisory services to these lending institutions, as well as engaging with African
governments and key stakeholders to offer support and help bring down the barriers impeding
the success of female-owned and female-led businesses.
Speaking during the breakfast event, African Guarantee Fund Group CEO, Mr. Jules Ngankam,
accepted the accreditation deeming it the next chapter in the reforms necessary to advance
female entrepreneurship in Kenya and Africa as a whole.
“Investing in women business creates a chainlink reaction for the better. With the increase in African female entrepreneurship our governments have higher tax collection, our financial institutions have more customers and generate more revenue. Our businesses and the retail sector as a whole also has increased
customer numbers which increases revenue and the households and communities surrounding
these women benefit from more income and a better quality of life,” Mr Ngankam stated.
AFAWA is a $300 million risk sharing instrument that seeks to unlock $3 billion in credit for
female-owned and female-led businesses offered through a network of commercial banks and
micro finance institutions. AFAWA additionally empowers the African female entrepreneur