DAKAR, Senegal (XOL Africa) — The African Development Bank and AXIAN Group have launched a digital finance program aimed at supporting more than 34,000 women-led businesses across five African countries, seeking to expand access to financing, digital tools and business development services.
The initiative, supported by the bank’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa, or AFAWA, and the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative, known as We-Fi, will operate through AXIAN’s digital financial services platforms Mixx and MVola.
The program comes as women entrepreneurs across Africa continue to face significant barriers to financing. Africa has the world’s highest rate of female entrepreneurship, but women-owned businesses face an estimated $49 billion financing gap, according to the organizations.
“Across Africa, millions of women are already running successful businesses. The challenge is not entrepreneurship. It is access to finance, to digital tools and to opportunities for growth,” said Erwan Gelebart, CEO of AXIAN Digibank and Fintech.
“Through Mixx and MVola, we are using technology and financial innovation to support women entrepreneurs in building stronger businesses, creating jobs and participating more fully in the digital economy. This programme is about unlocking opportunity at scale,” he said.
The program has two main components. The first will provide tailored digital financial products and services to 34,000 women-led micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in Madagascar, Tanzania and Senegal.
The second will provide financial literacy, digital skills and entrepreneurship training to 25,000 women in Madagascar, Tanzania, Senegal, Togo and Comoros.
The initiative will use mobile money, digital lending and alternative credit assessment tools to reach entrepreneurs who have traditionally had limited access to conventional financial services.
“Women entrepreneurs are central to Africa’s economic transformation, yet too many still face barriers to accessing finance, digital tools and business support needed to grow,” said Melissa Basque-Roux, coordinator of the African Development Bank’s AFAWA initiative.
“Through AFAWA and We-Fi, the African Development Bank is pleased to support this partnership with AXIAN, Mixx and MVola. The partnership will expand tailored digital financial services, strengthen financial literacy and unlock new opportunities for women-led businesses across the continent,” she said.
The program will focus on expanding digital finance for women-led businesses, strengthening financial and digital literacy, developing financial products tailored to women entrepreneurs, increasing digital inclusion through mobile technology and helping women-owned businesses enter and succeed in the formal economy.
Implementation will be led by Mixx and MVola in partnership with AXIAN’s local operating companies in the participating countries.
The initiative builds on broader cooperation between AXIAN and the African Development Bank. In January 2025, the bank approved a $160 million senior corporate loan to support digital connectivity and financial inclusion in nine African countries, including dedicated financing for 22,000 women entrepreneurs in Madagascar.
The partners say expanding digital financial services can help women entrepreneurs gain access to capital and business tools, allowing them to expand operations, create jobs and contribute more fully to Africa’s growing digital economy.
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