WEE-A Funding Window.
The AECF formally announced its commitment to advance women’s economic empowerment through the launch of a new funding window, the Women Economic Empowerment in Agribusiness (WEE-A) Fund, at the 2017 Africa Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire. The AECF board sponsored and led a side event, under the theme “Improving the Prosperity of Women in Agribusiness”. The event was organized to increase the appetite for funding of innovative businesses in the agricultural sector, that offer a disproportionately highimpact on women’s empowerment, preferably, through the Challenge Fund Mechanism. The overarching goal of WEE-A is to contribute to the promotion of gender equality, food security and inclusive growth by reducing rural poverty in sub-Saharan Africa through the economic empowerment of women in agribusiness. The AECF will launch the WEE-A Fund in
April 2018 as its flagship fund on gender which seeks to make targeted investments in specific agribusiness value chains in Ethiopia, Cote d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso and Sierra Leone which have a high impact on women. The fund will target investments in agribusiness companies, namely: • Businesses owned or led by women, preferably with substantive leadership in management; • Businesses that increase women’s access to and participation throughout the value chain; • Businesses that create employment opportunities for women; • Businesses that offer products or services that have a positive impact on women and girls; At this Inception Phase of WEE-A, the AECF is seeking a consultant to work with its programme management team to develop a country specific implementation framework for Ethiopia.
The Africa Enterprise Challenge Fund (AECF) is a US$ 310 million private sector challenge fund that provides catalytic funding to enterprises in 24 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
The fund supports innovative commercial businesses in the agribusiness, renewable energy and adaptation to climate change technology sectors with the aim of reducing rural poverty, promoting resilient rural communities and creating jobs through private sector development. We invest in businesses that are seen as “risky” and that struggle to meet traditional risk-return standards for commercial investors and which offer significant impact on poverty alleviation by creating jobs and sustainable incomes.
For more information about us please visit: www.aecfafrica.org
