The African Development Bank and Huawei have established separate initiatives to increase female digital inclusion in Africa.
The African Development Bank says it has approved two grants for research that will increase African women’s access to a range of digital financial services, including loans and micro-insurance.
Huawei, meanwhile, has officially launched its Huawei Women Developers (HWD) programme, which aims to empower women developers to create applications and tools that can change the world.
The Huawei initiative is intended to encourage more women to join in the digital economy, by providing participants with more opportunities and platforms for career development and skills training. Any woman developer from around the world can register to join the programme on the Huawei Developers Web site.
The programme also aims to provide participants with comprehensive resource support, and help them acquire greater space for career and technology development and networking.
Huawei senior VP Chen Lifang explains: “We believe that women will lead technological innovation. We hope the HWD will help women better leverage their talents and unique value, and give them opportunities to demonstrate their leadership abilities. This will help make our world a better place."
Through its existing Shining-Star initiative, Huawei offers women developers special incentives to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship as part of its commitment to promoting gender equality.
Participants in this programme who develop outstanding projects with big potential will have the opportunity to be featured in future campaigns and invited to other official Huawei events.
Boosting digital financial inclusion
The African Development Bank says it aims to do its part in helping to bridge the gender parity gap in Africa’s digital economy, through the funding of two grants which have been invested towards the Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility (ADFI).
The grants – for $1 million and $300 000 respectively, will be disbursed through the ADFI, a blended finance vehicle supported by the bank, to two financial technology firms, Pula Advisors Kenya and M-KOPA Kenya.
The newly established ADFI is a financing vehicle designed to accelerate digital financial inclusion across Africa, with a goal of ensuring 332 million more Africans, of which 60% are women, have access to the formal economy.
It seeks to improve access to digital financial tools, such as mobile payment systems, to provide a gateway to greater economic security, empowerment and opportunity for citizens of all countries on the continent.
The first phase of the project will focus on Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia. Pula Advisors says it will use the $1 million for research of social, cultural and economic factors that impact women farmers’ access to micro-insurance in these countries.
Research findings will inform the design and implementation of gender-centric insurance products.
“This grant funding will be used to leverage technology to develop innovative and responsive loan and insurance products that can spur productivity and inclusion, especially for our women smallholder farmers and traders,” says Sheila Okiro, African Development Bank coordinator for ADFI.
The three-year project will have three phases: product development, piloting and scaling. The outcomes are expected to benefit 360 000 farmers, 50% of them women, as well as boost farm yields by up to 30%.
M-KOPA says it will use the $300 000 grant funding for research involving 250 women and 250 men in Kenya’s Kisumu, Eldoret and Machakos counties.
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