The Ecobank Group expands its gender-financing offer to facilitate access to financing for Africa's women entrepreneurs
From supporting corporate businesswomen, small and medium-sized entrepreneurs to individual entrepreneurs, and those in the informal sector.
To bridge the gender financing gap for Africa's women entrepreneurs, Ecobank (www.Ecobank.com), the leading pan-African financial services group, announces significant enhancements to its multi-award-winning gender-financing solution - 'Ellevate by Ecobank'. These improvements strengthen Ecobank's commitment to women-owned, women-led, and women-focused businesses, while reinforcing its market competitiveness.
The World Bank estimates that closing the gender gap in Africa could add $2.5 trillion to the continent's GDP by 2025, underscoring the urgency of investing in women – not just for social justice, but for a more prosperous and equitable future for all Africans. In response, Ecobank's enhanced Ellevate programme is now more ambitious and inclusive, designed to address the diverse challenges faced by women entrepreneurs. The programme is being extended from new and existing Commercial Banking customers to include new and existing Consumer Banking and Corporate Banking customers, as well as female business leaders, with Corporate Banking customers serving as a pool of mentors. With this expansion, individual entrepreneurs - including those in the formal and informal sectors - can now fully benefit from its enhanced financial and non-financial solutions.
Jeremy Awori, Chief Executive Officer, Ecobank Group, said: 'We recognise and applaud the role that women entrepreneurs play in driving socio-economic impact across Africa and are committed to supporting them at every stage of their entrepreneurial journey. Since the launch of the Ellevate programme we have made significant progress, disbursing over US$200 million in loans, providing business networking opportunities, and offering leadership and capacity-building training for businesswomen.'
'Today, Ellevate 2.0 heralds in a new era for gender financing. It is bigger, better and more inclusive, delivering exceptional value to female entrepreneurs and women business leaders. Enhancing our products and solutions for women entrepreneurs to position Ecobank as their bank of choice is an integral component in accelerating the success of our Growth, Transformation and Returns strategy's objectives. It also supports our Group-wide objective of promoting gender equality and contributing to sustainable development.'
The enhanced Ellevate's value propositions now include:
Increasing access to finance with unsecured loans of up to US$50,000
Competitive interest rates and favourable collateral requirements
Accommodating customers with a two-year track record instead of the industry-standard three years
Helping them to find new customers and access new markets across Africa through our innovative online matchmaking MyTradeHub platform
Training, knowledge sharing webinars, support and other initiatives to enhance customers' business and leadership skills
Customised wealth management services
A one-stop shop to meet insurance needs.
A loyalty programme providing exclusive offers and discounts at select retail stores and recreation centres
To coincide with the celebrations of the International Women's Day, our enhanced Ellevate program will be launched by nine of our affiliates (Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Senegal, Togo and Zimbabwe) by the end of March 2025. It will then be rolled-out in phases across all our other sub-Saharan African affiliates throughout the year.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated.
Media Contact:
Christiane Bossom
Group Communications
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated
Email: groupcorporatecomms@ecobank.com
Tel: +228 22 21 03 03
Web: www.Ecobank.com
About Ecobank Group (or 'Ecobank Transnational Incorporated' or 'ETI'):
Ecobank Group is the leading private pan-African banking group with unrivalled African expertise. Present in 35 sub-Saharan African countries, as well as France, the UK, UAE and China, its unique pan-African platform provides a single gateway for payments, cash management, trade and investment. The Group employs over 14,000 people and offers Consumer, Commercial, Corporate and Investment Banking products, services and solutions across multiple channels, including digital, to over 32 million customers. For further information, please visit www.Ecobank.com.
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