AXIAN Group and the African Development Bank have launched a major women’s financial inclusion programme aimed at expanding access to finance and business support for women-led enterprises across five African countries.
Supported by the African Development Bank’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative and the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), the programme seeks to address the significant financing barriers facing women-owned businesses across the continent.
Africa has the world’s highest rate of female entrepreneurship, yet women entrepreneurs continue to face an estimated $49 billion financing gap, limiting their ability to grow businesses, create jobs and participate fully in the formal economy.
Through AXIAN Group’s digital financial services platforms, Mixx and MVola, the initiative will combine digital lending, financial literacy, entrepreneurship support and digital inclusion to reach women entrepreneurs traditionally underserved by conventional financial institutions.
The programme will provide tailored digital financial products and services to more than 34,000 women-led micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in Madagascar, Tanzania and Senegal.
A second component will deliver financial literacy, digital skills and entrepreneurship training to 25,000 women across Madagascar, Tanzania, Senegal, Togo and Comoros.
By leveraging mobile money, digital lending and alternative credit assessment tools, the partnership aims to expand access to financial services while helping women entrepreneurs build stronger and more sustainable businesses.
The initiative focuses on five key priorities: expanding access to digital finance, strengthening financial and digital literacy, developing tailored financial products, accelerating digital inclusion through mobile technology and supporting women-owned businesses to transition into and thrive in the formal economy.
Implementation will be led by Mixx and MVola in collaboration with local operating companies across participating countries, combining regional expertise with country-level execution.
The programme builds on the African Development Bank’s broader support for AXIAN Telecom and reflects growing efforts to use technology and financial innovation to close Africa’s gender financing gap.
