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# AFAWA and We-Fi partners meet in Côte d’Ivoire to improve financing for women-led businesses
- URL: https://www.africaandbeyond.org/afawa-and-we-fi-partners-meet-in-cote-divoire-to-improve-financing-for-women-led-businesses/
- Published: 2026-09-26T10:33:10.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-26T10:33:09.000Z
- Description: A four-day learning event in Abidjan brought development banks, financial institutions and women entrepreneurs together to examine financing, digital tools, market access and business support.
- Author: Africa & Beyond News Correspondent

The African Development Bank’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) and the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) convened development-finance institutions and other partners in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, from 22 to 25 September 2026 to examine how women entrepreneurs can gain better access to finance and wider economic opportunities.

The event was presented as a peer-learning and working session rather than a new funding announcement. Participants reviewed practical approaches involving financial institutions, digital finance, business growth, research, care services, networks, market access, technology and climate innovation. (afdb.org)

## Financial institutions at the centre of the discussion

Representatives from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Inter-American Development Bank, the International Finance Corporation, the Islamic Development Bank and the World Bank Group took part, alongside the We-Fi Secretariat and the African Development Bank’s Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility.

The programme included a visit to NSIA Banque Côte d’Ivoire, where delegates examined financial tools used to support women-owned businesses. AFAWA Coordinator Melissa Basque-Roux said the partnership model relies on working with financial institutions through guarantees and technical assistance so they can better respond to women-led businesses’ needs. Her remarks remain an attributed programme position, not independent evidence that all participating institutions have achieved those outcomes. (afdb.org)

NSIA Banque Côte d’Ivoire Deputy General Manager Sékou Chérif Sanogo said the bank was committed to offering women entrepreneurs tailored financing and local support in partnership with the African Development Bank. That commitment was stated by the bank and was not accompanied in the release by independently verified lending results. (afdb.org)

## Entrepreneurs described barriers and financing experiences

Delegates also met Ariane Monney, owner of Casa Èkwa; Yvette Yelematou Soro of Lemias Engineering; and Blandine Koffi, owner of Poisson d’Afrique. The businesses, which operate in hospitality, construction and fisheries, shared their experiences of seeking finance and developing their enterprises with support linked to AFAWA and NSIA Banque Côte d’Ivoire.

The African Development Bank said the entrepreneurs described difficulties they faced before accessing AFAWA-backed financing and discussed how that support affected their access to finance. The release does not provide individual loan amounts, repayment terms, revenue changes or independently measured business outcomes for the three enterprises. (afdb.org)

## Why the meeting matters

AFAWA is the African Development Bank’s initiative to reduce what it estimates is a US$49 billion financing gap facing women-owned and women-led small and medium-sized enterprises in Africa. We-Fi is a partnership hosted by the World Bank that supports programmes addressing financial and non-financial barriers facing women entrepreneurs. (afawa.afdb.org)

The Abidjan meeting therefore focused on how existing partnerships can be made more effective, including through digital services, technical support and financial products designed around the circumstances of women-owned businesses. The programme concluded with a review of lessons and the identification of areas where participating institutions could improve their support.

No new continent-wide financing target, legal reform or implementation deadline was announced in the African Development Bank’s account of the event. The next measurable developments will be whether participating institutions introduce revised products or procedures, and whether AFAWA and We-Fi publish follow-up results from the lessons identified in Abidjan.

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