ShEquity has secured a $1.2 million co-investment from the USAID Trade Hub to invest in and support over 100 high-potential women-owned or led enterprises.
Women entrepreneurs, according to Pauline Koelbl, Founder and Managing Director of ShEquity, are critical to Africa’s prosperity, as they run more than 40% of the continent’s small and medium-sized firms.
African women entrepreneurs, on the other hand, suffer a $42 billion funding gap compared to their male peers, making it difficult to collectively build their businesses.
“Smart investment for African women entrepreneurs needs to be greatly boosted if Africa is to attain its full economic potential,” Koelbl argues. “A lack of capital, along with a lack of business support, traps potential female entrepreneurs and those looking to develop their already successful enterprises in a growth deficit or low-income trap, deepening the gender gap and reinforcing negative preconceptions.”
ShEquity will use its $1.2 million co-investment grant to raise at least $15 million in private capital, which will be used to invest in, scale, and accelerate women-led and -owned firms in Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria. Agribusiness, healthcare, tech-enabled solutions, renewable energy, mobility, and fast-moving consumer products are among the six core industries addressed.
ShEquity will also provide business development services and technical support to 120 women-owned or led businesses in the target markets as part of the USAID Trade Hub project, as well as select 12 high-growth, high-impact businesses that will each receive at least $50,000 in venture capital funding.
Through 2024, it is projected that the combined investments in the 12 selected businesses will create at least 200 jobs and impact about 20,000 people economically, either directly or indirectly, throughout their individual value chains.
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