Quote of the Day by Marieme Esther Dassanou — Lionesses of Africa

Quote of the Day

“The African Development Bank, through its AFAWA initiative, is committed to accelerating women entrepreneurs’ ability to access finance and the required knowledge to get back on their growth path.”

Marieme Esther Dassanou manages the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA), an initiative of the African Development Bank to reduce the USD 42 Billion access to finance gap for Women Empowered Businesses in Africa. Prior to joining AfDB, Esther led the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) work on advancing women’s inclusion in the insurance sector as the head of the Women’s Insurance program. She has also managed the Secretariat of the Global Banking Alliance for Women, a consortium of financial institutions dedicated to promoting the growth of women-owned enterprises. Esther was lead author of the reports, G20 – Access to Finance for Women MSMEs and Women-owned SMEs: A Business Opportunity for Financial Institutions; which for the first time sized the access to finance gap for women SMEs in developing markets. More about AFAWA →