Visa Foundation announced that it expects to contribute $5 million in grants and impact investments in Africa that will support women’s participation in the digital economy. The Foundation investments coincide with US Vice President Kamala Harris’s tour to Africa and the establishment of a new Women in the Digital Economy Fund, and they follow Visa’s recent vow to invest $1 billion in Africa to develop resilient, creative, and inclusive economies.
Visa Foundation’s support would focus on increasing access to financial solutions and other services for women entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa, to drive equitable digital financial access as countries continue to digitize. The contributions will be allocated to programs that address the digital gender divide, and support women’s full participation in the 21st century economy.
“Expanding access to digital financial services lies at the core of Visa’s purpose, and our company and Visa Foundation are committed to helping address gender disparity and connecting more people to the global economy,” said Aida Diarra, Senior Vice President and Head of Sub-Saharan Africa at Visa. “We welcome and are pleased to support important global initiatives, such as the Women in Digital Economy Fund, and we look forward to working with government, NGO and private sector partners to create equitable access for all.”
Currently, an estimated 500 million Africans lack access to formal financial services; fewer than half of the adult population in Africa has made or received digital payments; and more than 40 million merchants do not accept digital payments. Through numerous programmes, Visa and the Visa Foundation are committed to increasing financial inclusion in Africa by enabling small businesses and women-led entrepreneurship. Visa Foundation has committed over $200 million to 50+ countries via various projects since its founding. The Foundation’s assistance has also enabled partner groups to reach over 2 million SMEs worldwide.
In Sub-Saharan Africa, notable grants and investments include:
- AfriLabs to support women led SMBs through a women’s accelerator program which will provide technical assistance and access to capital.
- Aruwa Capital to provide financing to women led SMBs in Africa and provide the fundamentals for SMBs to grow and scale
- TLCom TIDE Africa Fund to continue investing in African companies that use technology as a lever to solve Africa’s societal challenges.
Visa has also launched a number of initiatives with financial partners to assist women’s empowerment. These include a collaboration with Vodacom in the Democratic Republic of the Congo to empower women with disabilities, a partnership with the Hand in Hand Kenya Micro-Enterprise Success Program, which supported 8,200 women entrepreneurs over three years, and She’s Next, which provides funding, mentoring, and networking opportunities to female entrepreneurs leading growing SMBs in Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, and South Africa.