Africa: African Development Bank and Axian Launch Digital Finance Programme to Support 34,000 Women-Led Businesses in Africa

What the report says

AXIAN Group and the African Development Bank have launched a digital finance programme aimed at expanding access to funding and business support for more than 34,000 women-led enterprises in five African countries, according to AllAfrica’s report based on African Development Bank material. The initiative is designed to help women entrepreneurs who often struggle to obtain formal finance, a challenge the report says remains a major barrier despite Africa’s high rate of female entrepreneurship.

The programme will run through AXIAN’s digital financial services platforms, Mixx and Mvola, and is backed by the AfDB’s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa initiative, known as AFAWA, as well as the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative. It combines digital lending, financial literacy, business development services and broader digital inclusion efforts. The report says the effort is intended to reach women-owned micro, small and medium-sized businesses in Madagascar, Tanzania and Senegal, while training women in Madagascar, Tanzania, Senegal, Togo and Comoros.

The partners said the programme will use mobile money, alternative credit assessment and other digital tools to reach entrepreneurs underserved by traditional banking. It also focuses on helping women-owned firms move into the formal economy and strengthen their ability to grow and create jobs. The initiative builds on earlier AfDB support for AXIAN Telecom, including a 2025 loan cited in the report for digital connectivity and financial inclusion work.

More broadly, the announcement reflects a wider push across Africa to use fintech and mobile services to narrow the gender financing gap and support women-led business growth, though the exact impact will depend on implementation in each participating country.