The African continent has the highest rate of entrepreneurship in the world, driven primarily by women entrepreneurs. African women are twice as likely to start a business than women in other parts of the world; however, their contributions to economic growth have so far been limited. 

African women entrepreneurs still find it more difficult than men to convert their intentions into fast-growing, profitable, and sustainable businesses. They tend to be overrepresented in small businesses and in sectors characterized by low productivity and profitability, and face multiple challenges. Therefore, they are disproportionately prevented from effectively participating in the market economy, limiting countries from realizing their full growth and job creation potential. Poor access to finance has been a major constraint for women entrepreneurs in Africa, who face an estimated total financing gap of $42 billion for formal SMEs. 

To address this challenge, the African Development Bank Group established the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA), a flagship initiative that focuses specifically on increasing inclusive financing for women entrepreneurs on the continent. AFAWA's main objective is to bridge the financial gap for women entrepreneurs and unleash their entrepreneurial capacity and full potential. AFAWA is unique in that it offers a multidimensional approach to removing the constraints women entrepreneurs face through three pillars of intervention: 

1. Strengthen access to finance for women-owned/led businesses by leveraging the Bank's traditional financial instruments (credit lines, trade finance and equity funds) and through the AFAWA Growth Guarantee (G4G), an innovative mechanism that reduces risk for women entrepreneurs and increases the appetite of Financial Institutions (FIs) to lend to WSMEs. 
2. Training women entrepreneurs and financial institutions; 
3. Strengthening the enabling environment to increase the capacity of WSMEs to access financing. 

To achieve its goals, AFAWA partners with facilitators of female entrepreneurship to strengthen the capacity of women-owned SMEs to access financing and expand their businesses. .

Women business facilitators, such as women's business associations, incubators, accelerators, formal women's cooperatives, eligible civil society organizations, etc., play an important role in promoting the development of women-owned businesses and strengthening them to achieve growth. They are fundamental to creating a viable enabling environment in which women entrepreneurs can grow and create businesses that generate jobs for the continent, providing advisory and training services to women's businesses in various business management skills, enabling them not only to move from the informal to the formal sector, but also to become commercially viable and, above all, to access financing.

Within the scope of the program  Women Entrepreneurship Enablers The Bank seeks to support projects that aim to increase the viability and sustainability of formal women-owned SMEs and enable them to access financing opportunities to expand their businesses. 

The Bank encourages women's business associations, incubators, accelerators, formal women's cooperatives, eligible civil society organisations and other legal entities to share proposals in line with the objectives and themes described below.

Expectations

The proposals submitted will:

1. Demonstrate innovative approaches to building a supportive ecosystem for female entrepreneurship with a view to improving access to finance for WSMEs and accelerating business growth;
2. Develop innovative ways to disseminate advisory and technical assistance services addressing capacity constraints and skills enhancement for WSMEs to support access to finance;
3. Develop a comprehensive and sustainable capacity-building programme to enable access to finance in partnership with financial institutions; 
4. Increase visibility and digital presence for WSMEs;
5. Improve access to guidance and role models for WSMEs. 

Funding requests can be for a specific project, or for an indicative program encompassing multiple projects, or for multiple countries. The minimum amount to request funding under this call for proposals is US$100,000 and the maximum amount is US$250,000. This is a one-time concession.

Geographical Scope

Applications are welcome from all 54 countries in Africa, including those in transition/fragile regions. ^[1] Countries in the Sahel and North Africa are strongly encouraged to submit proposals.

Principles and Criteria for Financing 

1. Projects must be implemented in more than 2 countries;
2. The duration of the project must not exceed 2 (two) years; 
3. Project recipients and sponsors must be based in Africa or provide evidence of partnership with African entities and show that the proposed activities, operations and projects will be implemented in Africa;
4. Applicants must be legally constituted institutions of at least three years' standing with solid financial and purchasing procedures;
5. Collaboration between two or more candidate facilitators is encouraged;
6. Partnerships are strongly encouraged, particularly with one or more financial organisations and with the public and private sectors;
7. Previous experience in managing external funding and executing donor projects is required;

Assessment:  The proposals received will be evaluated based on the following considerations:

1. Clarity and Feasibility  (score: 15) 
   • Did the candidates demonstrate a clear understanding of the key issues (WSMEs’ access to meaningful funding and scalability of their businesses)? (8)
   • Are the timing, sequence, and resources of the effort reasonable and effective? (7)
2. History and Leverage  (Score: 35)
   • Has the candidate demonstrated a track record (strong results and impact) in supporting women-owned SMEs in accessing meaningful funding and developing their businesses? Has the organization demonstrated its ability to meet the milestones set out in the concept note (consider team size, partnerships and track record)? (7)
   • Did the proposal demonstrate an innovative approach to building an ecosystem to support SMEs’ access to financing and business expansion? Does the proposal include a partnership with one or more financial organizations, both public and private sector, with other facilitators of entrepreneurship? (8)
   • Are the funds provided being leveraged (through partnerships, matching funds, skin in the game, etc.) to ensure maximum impact? (20)
3. Project Impact  (Score: 30)
   • The proposal demonstrated a strong impact on development (number of beneficiaries, funding mobilized by women SMEs? (10)
   • Is there a well-defined roadmap on how the proposed intervention would attract more women SMEs to access financing and scale their businesses? (10)
   • Did the proposal demonstrate alignment with national or regional priorities for access to financial services/financial inclusion so that WSME can maximize the impact and scalability of the model? (10)
4. Monitoring-Evaluation-Scale  (Score: 20)
   • Does the project demonstrate the potential sustainability and scalability of the model going forward? (10)
   • Does the applicant articulate a plan for M and E and risk mitigation? (10)

Total score: 100 

Application and Timelines

The call for proposals will be funded through the African Development Bank Group's Gender Equality Trust Fund (GETF).

• Proposals must be submitted through the application platform and include the  Application proposal template  Available on the platform in Word format; (You can also download it here)
• Candidate proposals  They may be submitted in English or French and should not exceed 10 pages, including the cover and any appendices. Note: Any proposal exceeding 10 pages will not be evaluated.
• Application proposals should be submitted through the platform with the subject line “Name of the organization leading the project”.  until midnight GMT on Friday, November 25, 2022.

Registration process on the platform

• Step 1  Answer the preliminary questions.
• Step 2  Download and fill out the form.  proposal template registration form (in Word format) 
• Step 3  Upload your application proposal (maximum 10 pages) to the platform.
• Step 4  Submit your application through the platform via https://afdb.smapply.org/prog/afawa_- women_entrepreneurship_enablers_program /

A webinar will be held on Friday, November 4, 2022, to answer any questions. Here is the link to register for the Zoom meeting.: https://afdb.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJAvcuisrz0iHNbargqag4a5lqHlEUWAtTYG  

The winners will be contacted directly and their names will be published on the Bank's website and in other media outlets. 

Pre-selection and selection will be carried out in accordance with the Bank's policies, rules and procedures. The Bank is under no obligation to list any company, partnership, entity or association.

Download the Call for Proposals here.

For any questions, you can contact the project team at afawa@afdb.org.

^[1]   Central (Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Chad, Cameroon); East (Eritrea, Djibouti, South Sudan, Sudan, Burundi, Comoros, Somalia); South (Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Madagascar, Malawi); West (Burkina, Mali, Niger, Togo, Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia, Nigeria).