Africa: 600 women-led businesses to benefit from financing and technical assistance in Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia

ETG is one of the largest and fastest growing integrated agricultural supply chain managers and processors in sub-Saharan Africa.

The project will enable 600 women-led businesses in the three countries (200 in each country), to improve their entrepreneurial skills through training provided under the “Women’s Entrepreneurship and Employability” project of ETG. The main objective of the project is to increase the efficiency of the targeted small and medium enterprises, which are owned and managed by women beneficiaries of ETG operations. The project will run until 2025.

The funding includes a $1.4 million grant from We-Fi Grant Resources, a multi-donor fund managed by the African Development Bank. It will be used to carry out a diagnostic study and to strengthen the capacities of the companies selected in the main ETG sites. ETG is providing additional co-funding of $400,000 for the employability aspects of the project. This funding will also be used to facilitate collaboration with financial institutions and other stakeholders.

“This new technical assistance project complements a $150 million package for trade and agrifinance approved by the Bank in November 2021 for our strategic partner Export Trading Group (ETG), said Atsuko Toda, Director Agricultural Finance and Rural Infrastructure Development Officer at the African Development Bank. This is the first project to directly leverage the Bank’s Affirmative Action in Financing for Women in Africa (AFAWA) program for private sector agricultural projects, thereby strengthening the impact on development while supporting women farmers and women-led small and medium enterprises”.

The project will be implemented in partnership with the development arm of ETG, the Farmers Foundation, a non-profit organization established in 2012 in Tanzania to stimulate the growth of agriculture and foster the development of rural economies.

The Farmers Foundation has worked with 100,000 agribusinesses (40% of which are women-owned) and created an inclusive sustainability model across multiple value chains: oilseeds, pulses, pulses, grains, coffee and cashews in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique.

The project aligns with the objectives of the We-Fi program, which are to provide opportunities for women-owned businesses to access national and global markets, expand access to financial products and services, build their capacities and develop networks as well as mentoring.

“The role of the Bank through the AFAWA program is to support the implementation of the project with equitable financial and technical support for women in agriculture with a view to increasing productivity and food security, access to financial services, information, markets, technology and productive resources,” said Esther Dassanou, AFAWA program manager.

“ETG has shown its willingness to integrate a gender perspective into its business activities, being aware that this is the key to its success and that women are at the center of this development process, and a crucial resource in agriculture. and the rural economy,” she added.

The agricultural sector contributes significantly to the growth of the economies of Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia. Women constitute up to 60% of the rural labor force and about 80% of food producers in these economies.

Source African Development Bank