Gender Disparity: AfDB Lauds HEIR Women Hub on Efforts to Bridge $42bn Financing Gap

The African Development Bank (AfDB) has commended the recently conducted survey by HEIR Women Hub(HWH), which unveiled the disparities encountered by female entrepreneurs in Nigeria when accessing loans and investments.

So far, in a bid to address the staggering $42 billion financing gap for African women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), the African Development Bank Group (AfDB) is intensifying efforts to foster gender equality in access to financial resources.

Its Chief Gender Officer, Nigeria Country Department, Dr. Maria José Moreno Ruiz made the commendation during a virtual validation meeting organised by the hub to publicly present findings of the research.

The project is funded with support from African Women Development Fund (AWDF).

Ruiz described the survey as "detailed", expressing keen interest in collaborating with HEIR Women Hub for further advocacy. Specifically, she emphasised the importance of assessing the impact and visibility of loans on women's businesses to ensure they contribute significantly to their enterprises.

While expressing interest in engaging in further discussions, Ruiz inquired about the interest rates on loans for women, stating that the AfDB is keen on collaborating with the Women’s Hub to gain deeper insights into gender disparities in financial access for women.

"It would be great to know if there was any impact of women’s loans on the business itself even though many women may give the loans to their partners.

"On interest loans, we need to work on comparing the global rates to local rates to see the disparities and align where possible," she said.

Earlier in her welcome address, the Executive Director, HEIR Women Hub, Anuli Aniebo, while giving an overview of the project emphasised the need for factors that limit women's access to economic equality to be addressed in Nigeria.

She acknowledged initiatives by prominent figures like Tony Elumelu and organisations such as W Initiative by Access Bank, emphasising the necessity for more comprehensive interventions.

"Efforts by Tony Elumelu, Bank of Industry (BoI), Initiative by Access Bank, we have over 10 banks run by women. Women have since taken ownership and created ventures that fund women owned business, such as ARUWA and Money Africa.

“While laudable, it is still a drop in the ocean in a nation like ours. Yet, we need more interventions,” she stated.

Aniebo maintained that addressing these disparities is crucial for fostering a more inclusive and sustainable business environment.

Environment of business scalability, she said, is also expensive to run with bills, taxes, resources that at are competent with capacity, infrastructure and security requires evaluation when reviewing loans and funding for women led businesses.