Zimbabwe Launches COIYWA Program for Women Entrepreneurs

The Zimbabwe government has introduced the Creating Opportunities for Youth and Women in Africa (COIYWA) program, which aims to tackle financial, skills and market access challenges of women entrepreneurs and young business owners. The initiative was inaugurated by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade Sheillah Chikomo during the 25th Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) Summit, ahead of COMESA Business Forum.

The program is supported by COMESA Federation of Women in Business (COMFWB), the African Union Development Agency (AUDA-NEPAD) and the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID). It is designed to foster women's economic empowerment, youth entrepreneurship, and development of small businesses via incubation, mentorship and enhanced market access.

Speaking to the delegates, Sheillah spoke of the hurdles and difficulties facing women entrepreneurs and young people in Africa.

“Women and young people are the engines of innovation, and essential to the survival of our micro, small and medium enterprises, but are constrained from access to finance, skills and markets”, she said.

Key Highlights

• Zimbabwe launches COIYWA to support women entrepreneurs and youth
• New incubator targets leather production, employment and export growth
• EUR 20 million partnership supports incubation, mentorship and financial literacy

The program sees Zimbabwe join Ethiopia and Kenya in having special business incubators. The program is to have Zimbabwe as one of the countries to host special business incubators, along with Ethiopia and Kenya. The facility in Zimbabwe will be dedicated to the leather and leather products industry, underpinned by value addition, job creation and export promotion.

It is also intended to assist entrepreneurs to take advantage of opportunities under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to facilitate trade between African countries. Its goals are aligned with the objectives of the National Youth Empowerment Strategy and the National Broad-Based Women Empowerment Framework for 2026-2030 for Zimbabwe.

Sheillah appealed to financial institutions and development partners to offer credit guarantees and revolving funds and grants for emerging businesses. She also highlighted the need to link successful entrepreneurs with seasoned mentors, buyers, suppliers and distributors.

She said that for Zimbabwe, enabling opportunities for the youth and women in Africa is a way of advancing economic diplomacy by connecting entrepreneurship to the region and productive partnerships. She appealed to the private sector institutions and development partners to help implement the program and to the youth and women to avail themselves of the program.

COMESA Secretary-General, Chileshe Kapwepwe shared the examples of business incubators in Kenya, Eswatini and Burundi where entrepreneurs are working with local standards bureaus to produce products that are export ready.

“It was encouraging to witness a very practical demonstration of the ability of COMESA to convert the word into real active, live support on the ground”, Chileshe said.

Director of Technical Cooperation and Program Funding at AUDA-NEPAD, Symerre Grey-Johnson pointed out that women and young people are not only beneficiaries of development efforts, but key drivers of Africa's economic transformation.

He said COIYWA tackles barriers to finance, technology and markets by utilizing business incubation, mentorship and digital financial literacy. They are supported by a EUR 20 million cooperation agreement with the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (AECID).

The program is aligned with Spain's Africa Strategy for 2025-2028, said Spanish Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Lucas Fernandez Mosquera. He also emphasized the long-standing cooperation between Spain and AUDA-NEPAD and COMESA for the development of entrepreneurial ecosystems and creation of sustainable jobs.