AfDB and AXIAN Launch Digital Finance Programme to Support 34,000 Women-Led Businesses Across Africa

The African Development Bank (AfDB) and AXIAN Group have launched a new digital finance programme designed to expand access to capital, financial services and business support for more than 34,000 women-led enterprises across Africa.

Launched in Antananarivo on September 2, 2026, the initiative brings together the AfDB’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative and AXIAN’s digital financial services platforms, Mixx and MVola, to address one of the biggest barriers facing women entrepreneurs: limited access to formal finance.

The programme comes against the backdrop of an estimated $49 billion financing gap faced by women-owned and women-led small and medium-sized enterprises across Africa. Despite having one of the world’s highest rates of female entrepreneurship, many African women entrepreneurs continue to face barriers including limited access to credit, collateral requirements, inadequate financial histories and insufficient business support.

The new initiative is designed to use digital financial services to reach entrepreneurs who have traditionally been underserved by conventional banking systems.

Under the programme, more than 34,000 women-led micro, small and medium-sized enterprises will gain access to tailored digital financial products and services, including digital lending and mobile payment solutions.

The programme will initially provide financing support to women-led businesses in Madagascar, Tanzania and Senegal.

A second component will focus on capacity development, with 25,000 women entrepreneurs across Madagascar, Tanzania, Senegal, Togo and Comoros expected to receive training in financial literacy, digital skills and entrepreneurship.

The use of digital platforms is central to the programme’s approach.

Through AXIAN’s Mixx and MVola platforms, entrepreneurs can access financial services through mobile technology, reducing some of the barriers associated with traditional branch-based banking.

The programme will also explore alternative approaches to credit assessment, including the use of digital transaction data to help assess businesses that may lack conventional credit histories or sufficient collateral.

For women entrepreneurs operating informal or early-stage businesses, this could create new pathways into the formal financial system.

The initiative is supported through the AfDB’s AFAWA programme and the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), combining development finance expertise with AXIAN’s digital financial infrastructure.

Beyond providing access to capital, the programme is designed around the understanding that finance alone is not enough to guarantee business growth.

Women entrepreneurs will also receive training and business development support intended to strengthen their financial management, digital capabilities and entrepreneurial skills.

The approach reflects AFAWA’s broader model, which combines access to finance with technical assistance and efforts to create a more supportive environment for women-owned businesses.

For the African Development Bank, closing the financing gap for women entrepreneurs is closely connected to the continent’s broader economic transformation.

Women-led businesses contribute to employment, household incomes, local markets and economic activity across multiple sectors. Improving their access to capital can therefore have effects beyond individual enterprises.

The AfDB has set a broader AFAWA ambition of mobilising up to $5 billion in financing for more than 30,000 women-owned and women-led businesses, alongside capacity-building and financial-sector reforms designed to make financial systems more responsive to women entrepreneurs.

The partnership with AXIAN adds a digital dimension to that agenda.

By combining mobile financial services, digital lending, alternative credit assessment and entrepreneurship training, the programme seeks to demonstrate how technology can help extend financial inclusion to women who remain outside traditional banking systems.

For AXIAN, the initiative builds on its existing digital financial services infrastructure across African markets and its wider work in connectivity and financial inclusion.

The programme also reflects a growing recognition that mobile money and digital financial services can play a critical role in expanding access to formal financial tools for micro and small businesses.

As implementation begins, attention will turn to how effectively the programme can translate digital access into actual business growth — including increased investment, stronger enterprises, new jobs and greater participation by women in Africa’s formal economy.

For the thousands of women-led businesses targeted by the initiative, the goal is ultimately straightforward: make it easier to access the financial tools, knowledge and opportunities needed to build businesses that can survive, grow and create economic value.

The AfDB-AXIAN partnership represents another step towards closing the financing gap facing African women entrepreneurs and demonstrating that digital finance can be a practical pathway to greater economic inclusion.

ABOUT AFAWA

The Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) is an African Development Bank initiative focused on reducing the financing gap facing women-owned and women-led businesses across the continent. Its approach combines access to finance, technical assistance and efforts to strengthen the enabling environment for women entrepreneurs.