Women-Led Businesses To Access Up To Ksh6.5M Via Ecobank’s Ellevate Program
[Photo/Ecobank]
Businesswomen in Kenya can now access up to Ksh6.5 Million without collateral, thanks to enhanced Ellevate program by Ecobank.
Speaking during the Re-Launch of the program, the regional executive of Central, East, and Southern Africa and Managing Director of Ecobank Kenya Mrs Josephine-Anan Ankomah said the program aims at closing the gender gap in access to financing and markets.
“Ellevate program aims at closing the gender gap in access to financing and markets. Under Ellevate 2.0, we have extended the repayment period from five years to seven years because when a woman is strating a business, there is a learning curve, a growth phase, so when you immediately start making payments, it gets tough,” said Ankomah.
Previously, the program (Ellevate 1.0) could only offer loans up to Ksh1 million and the loans we only accessible to the bank’s commercial banking customers, the SMEs. Through its expansion, the program will now cater to sole proprietors, Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and large corporates. Women will also enjoy cheaper interest rates compared to other general borrowers.
Women in business, through the program, will also benfit from access to markets and capacity building.
“Ecobank has launched Ellevate by Ecobank Series where we have partnered with Google to provide training, especially in digital skills and business mastery, we have partnered with KNCCI to provide networking opportunities where women can learn from each other, and we are working with Ecobank Academy because we know women need knowledge for that capacity, In regards to markets, we have the Echo Bank Single Trade Hub that we are putting our Elevate women on free of charge so that they have access not only to markets here in Kenya, but across the 33 markets that Echo Bank is present in,” Ankomah said.
Since its launch in Kenya in September 2022, the program has already offered loans to over 2,000 women while it has mentored and provided networking opportunities to over 5,000 businesswomen.
The contribution of women in Kenya’s business ecosystem cannot be ignored. Accroding to International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, women-owned businesses contribute to 20% of the economy’s GDP, while one out of every three SMEs in Kenya are fully owned by women yet these businesses only only receive 3% of procurement from large corporations.
This highlights a significant disparity, indicating that while women are involved in business, their participation in corporate procurement is relatively low therefore the need to do more to close the inclusivity gap.
