(3 minutes read)
· African Development Bank (AfDB) President Dr Akinwumi Adesina underscored the need for African public development banks extending support towards the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) and for tackling youth unemployment.
· AFAWA is an initiative to mobilize US$ 5 billion for support of women entrepreneurs in Africa. The initiative has roped in services of 24 financial institutions in 15 countries, as of now
· More financial institutions are expected to join the movement by 2022
African Development Bank (AfDB) President Dr Akinwumi Adesina underscored the need for African public development banks extending support towards the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) and for tackling youth unemployment.
The AfDB CEO made this appeal at a recently held virtual meeting titled as “Finance in Common Spring Meeting”. Representatives of the Association of African Development Finance Institutions (AADFI) and the International Development Finance Club (IDFC), apart from AfDB representatives attended the meeting. .
AFAWA is an initiative to mobilize US$ 5 billion for support of women entrepreneurs in Africa. The initiative has roped in services of 24 financial institutions in 15 countries, as of now. More financial institutions are expected to join the movement by 2022.
The AfDB president also called on the banks to tackle the challenge of youth unemployment and stressed that the three strategic actions would ensure financial stability of the continent viz. inclusivity, focus on green and stress on climate resilience. Revealing that soon AfDB would be launching Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Banks, AfDB CEO urged the public development banks to support the creativity and businesses of young people. The banks would be well-capitalized to create a new financial ecosystem that would support and grow the businesses of the youth of Africa at a higher scale, he said, adding that the success of all public development banks was important to build an economically strong Africa.
