{"id":25740,"date":"2023-02-25T15:01:25","date_gmt":"2023-02-25T15:01:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding"},"modified":"2023-02-25T15:11:50","modified_gmt":"2023-02-25T15:11:50","slug":"women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding","title":{"rendered":"Women entrepreneurs to benefit from AfDB funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. <\/strong><\/span>Local women entrepreneurs, particularly those in agriculture, will benefit from the African Development Bank (ADB)\u2019s women fund that is designated for lending to African women entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

The Bank\u2019s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative has reached a landmark US$1 billion (about M17 billion) in approved funding designated for lending to African women entrepreneurs. This is yet another milestone for the bank following a recent historic summit to tackle the escalating challenges of food security in Africa.<\/p>\n

The Dakar 2 Africa Food Summit, co-hosted by the Bank and the government of Senegal was attended by 34 heads of state and government, more than 70 ministers, farmers\u2019 representatives from the private sector, and development partners.<\/p>\n

AFAWA was launched in 2015 in Dakar during the first Feed Africa conference. \u201cI am incredibly proud of AFAWA\u2019s financing achievement. AFAWA\u2019s benchmark reminds us that when we invest to grow Africa\u2019s food systems, we must also invest in Africa\u2019s women agripreneurs,\u201d the Bank\u2019s Vice President for Agriculture, Human, and Social Development, Dr Beth Dunford said.<\/p>\n

Women run the majority of Africa\u2019s agricultural sector\u2019s small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), yet they face significant barriers to accessing finance.<\/p>\n

Across the continent, African women entrepreneurs face an estimated $42 billion gender financing gap compared to their male counterparts. In Lesotho, women still have little to no influence over resources and norms, choice of jobs, and crops.<\/p>\n

This limits their earning potential in agriculture and hence, the feminisation of agriculture. In recent years, frequent droughts and floods, poor farming methods, high food prices, and global financial crises worsened food insecurity.<\/p>\n

Lesotho\u2019s agricultural system is patriarchal, and subsistence farming is the dominant farming practice that depends solely on rainfall. This has resulted in poor harvests exacerbated by archaic farming methods, tools, and infertile soil.<\/p>\n

However, assistance from the African Development Bank is likely to greatly impact women\u2019s participation in agriculture in the country. In the last two years, the Bank through AFAWA, has multiplied the volume of investments towards women-owned small and medium enterprises sevenfold.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the end of December 2022, AFAWA-approved lending to women-led small and medium-sized enterprises reached $1.051 billion.<\/p>\n

Of that, $135 million targets women in the agriculture sector,\u201d said Malado Kaba, Director of the Bank\u2019s Gender, Women, and Civil Society Department. \u201cAFAWA\u2019s approved lending reaches across 27 countries and through 56 financial institutions.<\/p>\n

Already 4 115 women business owners have benefited from AFAWA financing instruments. This is just the beginning,\u201d she added. Already, financial barriers to African women agripreneurs growing their businesses, are being addressed through AFAWA investment.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2023, we will continue to work closely with our partners to accelerate their ability to lend to women-led micro and small enterprises. Ensuring that the enabling environment is inclusive to enhance women\u2019s ability to access financing will be critical.<\/p>\n

\u201cThus, we will work closely with policymakers to ensure that the right reforms are in place to accelerate women-led small and medium enterprises financial access,\u201d Kaba noted.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Lesotho<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Lesotho. Local women entrepreneurs, particularly those in agriculture, will benefit from the African Development Bank (ADB)\u2019s women fund that is designated for lending to African women entrepreneurs. The Bank\u2019s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative has reached a landmark US$1 billion (about M17 billion) in approved funding designated for lending […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":25739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,5,7],"tags":[233,246,245,261],"class_list":["post-25740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-economy","category-head-lines","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-lesotho","tag-lesotho","tag-women"],"yoast_head":"\nWomen entrepreneurs to benefit from AfDB funding - Lesotho<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Local women entrepreneurs, particularly those in agriculture, will benefit from the African Development Bank (ADB)\u2019s wom ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Women entrepreneurs to benefit from AfDB funding\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Local women entrepreneurs, particularly those in agriculture, will benefit from the African Development Bank (ADB)\u2019s wom ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Lesotho\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-25T15:01:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-25T15:11:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1677324790.65.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Women entrepreneurs to benefit from AfDB funding\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-25T15:01:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-25T15:11:50+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding\"},\"wordCount\":511,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1677324790.65.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Lesotho\",\"Lesotho\",\"Women\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"economy\",\"head lines\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding\",\"name\":\"Women entrepreneurs to benefit from AfDB funding - Lesotho\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1677324790.65.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-02-25T15:01:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-02-25T15:11:50+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Local women entrepreneurs, particularly those in agriculture, will benefit from the African Development Bank (ADB)\u2019s wom ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1677324790.65.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1677324790.65.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"Women entrepreneurs to benefit from AfDB funding\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Women entrepreneurs to benefit from AfDB funding\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/\",\"name\":\"Lesotho\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Women entrepreneurs to benefit from AfDB funding - Lesotho","description":"Local women entrepreneurs, particularly those in agriculture, will benefit from the African Development Bank (ADB)\u2019s wom ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Women entrepreneurs to benefit from AfDB funding","og_description":"Local women entrepreneurs, particularly those in agriculture, will benefit from the African Development Bank (ADB)\u2019s wom ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding","og_site_name":"Lesotho","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2023-02-25T15:01:25+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-02-25T15:11:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":720,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1677324790.65.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Women entrepreneurs to benefit from AfDB funding","datePublished":"2023-02-25T15:01:25+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-25T15:11:50+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding"},"wordCount":511,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1677324790.65.jpg","keywords":["Africa Press","Africa Press-Lesotho","Lesotho","Women"],"articleSection":["all news","economy","head lines"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding","name":"Women entrepreneurs to benefit from AfDB funding - Lesotho","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1677324790.65.jpg","datePublished":"2023-02-25T15:01:25+00:00","dateModified":"2023-02-25T15:11:50+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Local women entrepreneurs, particularly those in agriculture, will benefit from the African Development Bank (ADB)\u2019s wom ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1677324790.65.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/sites\/62\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1677324790.65.jpg","width":1280,"height":720,"caption":"Women entrepreneurs to benefit from AfDB funding"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/all-news\/women-entrepreneurs-to-benefit-from-afdb-funding#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Women entrepreneurs to benefit from AfDB funding"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/","name":"Lesotho","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/lesotho\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}