geo/africa
“This report prepares the ground to empower women, to take a leading role in the business of farming and agricultural value chains, regionally and globally”, said Donald Kaberuka, President of the African Development Bank.
The office of the Special Envoy on Gender (SEOG) and the Department for Agriculture and Agro-industry (OSAN) of the African Development Bank (AfDB) launched a new report, “Economic Empowerment of African Women through Equitable Participation in Agricultural Value Chains” on Thursday, August 27 at its hea
Last month the venture capital industry took notice when early stage venture firm First Round Capital released research stating that portfolio “companies with a female founder performed 63% better than our investments with all-male founding teams.”
Social lenders such as Root Capital have pioneered financing for smallholder producers of export crops like coffee, cocoa and tea. Now, Root is seeking to help build agricultural businesses that serve local staple crop markets as well – a financing market that may be 10 times as big.
Atlas Mara Limited ("Atlas Mara" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that the Board of Directors of the Overseas Private Investment Corporation ("OPIC"), the U.S. government's development finance institution, has approved $200 million in financing in support of a $300 million overall project for acquisition finance and on-lending across Africa.
This announcement follows President Obama's recent historic trip to Africa.
As a young girl growing up in Limuru, Kenya, a rural village roughly 25 miles west of Nairobi, Loise Muya watched her mother harvest maize and potatoes to sell in the local market.
“My mother tilled the land from morning until evening,” says Muya, who is one of seven children. “But when the money came in, it all went to my father. My mother had no say in how it was spent — not for her, and not for my brothers and sisters and me. That is the way it is for women. It’s part of the culture.”
The failures across Africa to support female entrepreneurs means that there is a vast dormant talent pool waiting to be unleashed, with the potential to create valuable, scalable businesses which could boost the continent’s economies, says Yasmin Belo-Osagie, co-founder of She Leads Africa.
Leading up to the 2014 Fin4Ag – Revolutionising finance for agri-value chains international conference, the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation (CTA) commissioned a study to explore the state of digital/mobile payments in agriculture.
We are pleased to present the results of the study that we believe will make an important contribution to the body of knowledge on this topic. The study was carried out using three case studies; SmartMoney from Uganda, NWK Agri-Services from Zambia, and Rice Mobile Finance (RiMFin) from Ghana.
With Africa emerging as a hotbed for digital innovation in financial services, Uzoma Dozie has separated himself and Nigeria's Diamond Bank as a leader in this transformation on the continent.
By focusing on improving the financial lives of the underbanked and capitalizing on the popularity of mobile apps and payments in the country, the $10 billion-asset Diamond Bank has achieved significant growth.
The African financial sector is desperately in need of a shot in the arm as it continues to grapple with the legacy of banking systems and financial markets. Development of this sector can play a key role in providing a much-needed engine of domestic growth. Discussions during the African Development Bank's 2015 Annual Meeting, from May 25-29 in Abidjan also focus on SMEs contributions to growth, especially on increasing private sector involvement in creating wealth.
