Brussels, 17 February 2022/OACPS: Within the framework of the 7thEU-Africa Business Forum (EABF), a high-level event was dedicated to the empowerment of women, in particular through a series of public-private partnership initiatives, among which featured the“Women Entrepreneurship for Africa” (WE4A) programme.

Focused on empowering underserved communities in Sub-Saharan Africa, such as women, youth, and the informal sector, the WE4A programme is jointly supported by the European Union (EU), the Organisation of African, Caribbean and Pacific States (OACPS) and the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). It is is implemented by the Tony Elumelu Foundation (TEF) and the German Development agency GIZ (E4D programme).

The programme aims to improve the business capacity of women-led enterprises to increase their chances to raise follow-on funding from private sector investors. Both the initial acceleration and the follow-on growth programmes aim to assist women entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa to flourish and contribute to employment creation in their communities through enhanced business capacities, access to formal financial services, and integration into local and regional value chains.

The Acceleration/Growth Programme is implemented with the support of SAFEEM (Swiss Association for Entrepreneurship in Emerging Markets).

The WE4A is part of the Joint OACPS-EU Private Sector Development Strategy which includes programmes and initiatives such as the ICR Facility whichsupports the Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank (TADB)to develop a gender scheme for financial and non-financial services for women and youth in agribusiness, and to engage in public-private dialogue with stakeholders in the agricultural value chain.