ImpactAlpha, June 30 – The Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs’ second slug of funding from its Advancing Women’s Empowerment Fund was awarded to three organizations in Africa enabling gender-lens investing. They include: Aequalitas Capital Partners for innovative financing for women-led ventures in Nigeria; Property Point Venture Catalyst for working capital for South Africa’s women entrepreneurs in real estate and construction; and African Entrepreneur Collective for low-cost loans and grants to women-led small businesses in Rwanda and Kenya.
The Advancing Women’s Empowerment Fund was set up to pilot financing solutions to bridge the estimated $320 billion annual finance gap for women-led businesses in emerging and frontier markets. It awarded $1.2 million to eight initiatives last June (see, “ANDE’s Advancing Women’s Empowerment Fund awards $1.2 million”).
USAID backed the latest awards.
