Together we can go far
SI AFRICA
Africa’s Future Finance for Women
♦ Africa Beyond Aid
♦ Alternative financing
♦ Fellowship program
♦ Philanthropy
Access: 3 billion dollars is the financing gap figure for formal, women owned small businesses, globally. Women remain largely excluded from the formal economy.
It is therefore not surprising that in fact women do not even bother to apply believing that they would be rejected for credit. It is a demand side issue states Finance & Development in 2020.
Key stakeholders are working towards unlocking finance, but there is still a long way to go to close this persistent financing gap.
As Social Innovation Africa engages with key stakeholders, the organisation pledges to start its own Women’s Fund, focusing particularly on developing the Social Enterprise Sector.
The Fund has several key design features, demonstrating that we are going to do things differently, based on our lived realities and our experience in communities.
Investing in women’s economic participation not only has a profound development impact, it makes good business sense for companies and economies. Investing in our future means taking these bold steps.
Our first alternative financing partner is InventoryClub, setting the pace for change.
- 50% of the Fund is allocated to Widows and Social Entrepreneurs
- 40% of the Fund is allocated to the Agribusiness sector and Build Africa’s Brands
- 10% to building a cohort of African Women Fund Managers
Future of Africa’s Finance
Si Africa is launching a Fellowship Program to build women’s capacity in Fund management.
Bi-annually 12 Fellows will undertake formal courses and will themselves be empowered to start their own Fund with seed funding from SIA and mentoring support from Africa’s leading Fund Managers.
Replicating this model ensures the growth of the number of qualified women Fund Managers, tripling within 5 years.
African Philanthropy: A new wave is taking shape and Social Innovation Africa is blazing a new trail with building an Individual Donations platform.
Follow our blog series on the Africa We Want for details.