AfDB Report Highlights $42 Billion Funding Gap for Women

Africa is stepping up efforts to address the major financial barriers facing women, with leaders and development institutions calling for greater access to finance, justice, infrastructure and economic opportunities. The issue gained renewed attention during the 70th session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women in New York, where member states voted on a declaration supporting women’s access to justice for the first time in the Commission’s seven-decade history. The declaration received support from 37 countries, while one voted against it.

Women make up nearly half of Africa’s population, but women-owned businesses continue to face an estimated $42 billion financing gap. The shortage of capital limits the ability of women entrepreneurs to launch businesses, expand operations, create jobs and contribute fully to Africa’s economic growth.

Dr. Jemimah Njuki, Director for Gender, Women and Civil Society at the African Development Bank, highlighted the importance of treating women’s economic participation as a key part of Africa’s development. The Bank views access to finance, infrastructure, skills and economic opportunities for women as essential to strengthening economic growth and resilience.

Key Highlights:

• African women-owned businesses face a $42 billion financing gap that limits their growth and economic participation
• The African Development Bank is developing a 2027–2031 Gender Action Plan to address barriers to women’s economic participation
• AFAWA aims to unlock $5 billion for women entrepreneurs and has already channeled $3.1 billion through financial institutions

The African Development Bank’s strategy in this regard conforms with the Ten-Year Strategy of the bank and was articulated during its Annual Meeting in 2026 in Brazzaville which took place under the theme “Mobilizing Africa's Development Financing at Scale in a Fragmented World.” The strategy aims at enhancing capital access, exploiting Africa’s human resources, and assisting nations that face climate and development challenges.

The bank’s participation in New York consisted also of the elaboration of the Gender Action Plan for 2027–2031. Consultations of the bank with the African Women Leaders Network at  the African Union’s Permanent Observer Mission to the United Nations involved women leaders and partner organization’s and aimed at determining priorities for the future plan.

The plan is supposed to eliminate the systemic obstacles faced by women in the field of labor, construction, finance, and economic policy. The idea is to go above the individual projects and engage in the gender events through wider development activities of the bank.

The African Development Bank also engaged in talks with UN Women related to capital mobilization as well as infrastructure investment in the countries impacted by wars. The two institutions treated the issue of financing provision

Women living in fragile and conflict-affected communities remain among those facing the greatest challenges in accessing financial services. Traditional banking and lending systems are often weak or unavailable in such areas. Discussions around the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund therefore focused on improving financing mechanisms for grassroots women’s organization’s working in difficult environments.

According to the African Development Bank, their Crisis Response for Women and Affected Communities initiative in Sudan serves as an example of their progress. This program has helped over 95,000 women through its provision of cash assistance, livelihood opportunities and relevant services, and its connection of economic empowerment and protection with access to justice.

Furthermore, the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) program is another program that the African Development Bank believes will help close financing gaps in Africa by combining access to capital with policy changes, training and mentorship programs to help women entrepreneurs.

This will facilitate the potential unlocking of about USD 5 billion for female entrepreneurs in Africa, having been able to form partnerships with over 200 financial institutions and already facilitating funding of about USD 3.1 billion for women-led businesses.