Ecobank Transnational Incorporated has set itself a combined lending target of $2.6 billion by 2030 for women-owned businesses and agricultural small and medium-sized enterprises, in one of its most significant commitments yet to two sectors that remain underfinanced across Africa.
The Lomé-headquartered banking group said the plan is split between a $2 billion portfolio for women entrepreneurs, delivered through its Ellevate programme, and $600 million for agriculture-focused...
Continue Reading This Article
Enjoy this article as well as all of our content, including reports, news, tips and more.
By registering or signing into your SRM Today account, you agree to SRM Today's Terms of Use and consent to the processing of your personal information as described in our Privacy Policy.
SMEs. The bank stressed that the sums represent portfolio targets to be built up over time, rather than cash to be handed out in a single disbursement.
According to Ecobank, the women-focused leg of the strategy is intended to deepen access to credit, banking services, training and digital tools for female business owners. The group said it has already supported more than 110,000 women-led businesses and now wants to expand that reach to 400,000 SMEs, while also creating pathways for nearly one million women micro-entrepreneurs into formal financial services.
The initiative is designed to go beyond lending alone. Ecobank said it will pair finance with business support, including digital skills and practical banking access, in an effort to help smaller firms grow more sustainably. The group said the sectors targeted would include agribusiness, healthcare and education, reflecting its view that women-led enterprises often operate in areas central to local economies and household welfare.
On the agriculture side, the bank said the $600 million target would support businesses across the wider food value chain, from producers and aggregators to processors, logistics operators, traders and exporters. That broader definition suggests the programme is intended to back not just farmers, but also the commercial networks that move crops from field to market and, ultimately, across borders.
Ecobank group chief executive Jeremy Awori said the plan is tied to wider ambitions around African economic sovereignty, food security and regional integration. The bank also intends to use guarantees from development finance institutions to help reduce the risks attached to lending to smaller businesses, particularly in segments that traditional lenders often consider vulnerable.
The timing is notable. Across the continent, access to capital remains a persistent constraint for women entrepreneurs and agricultural firms. The African Development Bank has estimated the financing gap for women-owned and women-led SMEs at $49 billion, while agricultural SMEs face an annual shortfall of about $96 billion. Ecobank’s new targets are a response to those gaps, though they fall well short of closing them.
The bank is also leaning on its wider continental network. Ecobank said its digital trade platform already connects more than 60,000 businesses, and that the infrastructure can help facilitate commerce under the African Continental Free Trade Area. In May, the group announced a separate $3 billion commitment over three years to support intra-African and global trade, underlining a broader strategy to position itself as a financier of cross-border business.
For Ecobank, the new pledge ties together two priorities that are increasingly central to African banking: expanding credit to underserved women-led enterprises and strengthening the agricultural economy that underpins much of the continent’s employment and food supply. The scale of the targets suggests the lender sees both as long-term growth markets, as well as social and economic imperatives.
Source: Noah Wire Services
