Pan-African lender Ecobank Group has announced plans to extend $2 billion in credit to women-owned businesses across Sub-Saharan Africa over the next three years, signalling a major push to expand women’s access to formal finance on the continent.
The bank, which operates in 34 African countries including Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Sudan, Uganda and Burundi, aims to grow its customer base of women-owned enterprises to 400,000. By the end of 2024, Ecobank had already disbursed $300 million to women-led businesses and has set a target of more than tripling that portfolio by 2030.
Group Chief Executive Jeremy Awori said the bank would deploy digital onboarding tools to bring informal traders into the formal banking system. “This initiative will impact at least one million micro entrepreneurs,” he stated.
Access to credit for women across Africa has long been constrained by limited collateral and cultural barriers. In many households, assets commonly accepted as security for loans remain registered in the names of male family members.
In response, banks and governments have increasingly turned to guarantee schemes that reduce the need for traditional collateral, alongside financial training programmes designed to strengthen the capacity of women-owned enterprises.
In Kenya, government interventions such as the Women Enterprise Fund and the Hustler Fund have sought to address the same challenge, though results have so far been limited. Ecobank has designated Nairobi as its regional hub for Eastern, Central and Southern Africa, positioning the city at the centre of its expanded outreach.
The drive is further supported by a partnership with France-based development institution Proparco, which has joined Ecobank in a €300 million risk-sharing facility aimed at women borrowers and structured to eliminate the requirement for conventional security.
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Awori underscored the commercial case for the initiative.
“Analysing banking data across our 34 markets reveals an undeniable truth: Women entrepreneurs consistently show lower default rates and higher repayment discipline than men,” he said. “We are not backing women entrepreneurs as an act of corporate charity. Investing in women is smart banking and sound risk management. Women-led businesses are Africa’s most undervalued, high-return asset class.”
Alongside the women-focused lending programme, Ecobank has committed a further $600 million to agricultural finance. Women account for up to 50 percent of the continent’s agricultural workforce and 76 percent of working women depend on agri-food systems.
The bank aims to build an outstanding loan portfolio of at least $600 million dedicated to agricultural production and agri-processing by 2030, as part of efforts to address Africa’s estimated $100 billion trade finance gap and capture a greater share of the continent’s $1 trillion agri-food market.
