A $2.6 billion promise to Africa's women entrepreneurs and its farmers

Ecobank plans to channel $2.6 billion into women-led businesses and agricultural value chains across its 34 African markets by 2030. The plan, announced on September 24 in Lomé, Togo, puts $2 billion behind women entrepreneurs through the bank's Ellevate programme — including pathways to bring up to one million female micro-entrepreneurs into formal finance through digital onboarding — and $600 million into farm-to-market businesses: not just farmers, but storage, processors, truckers, traders and exporters. The bank has already reached more than 110,000 women-led enterprises, and its portfolio of women-led businesses grew from 9,400 in 2021 to more than 83,000 by the end of 2024. The lending targets climate-smart farming and cross-border trade under the African Continental Free Trade Area.