German Ambassador to Malawi, Ute König, has said women entrepreneurs in the country continue to face serious challenges in accessing finance despite their strong role in community development.
Speaking in Lilongwe on Friday during the launch of cohorts 13 and 14 of the Growth Accelerator Project, König said women own one third of all businesses in Africa but still struggle to get loans and support.
“When women’s businesses thrive, they invest in family welfare, health and education,” she said.
She said the Growth Accelerator Project was designed to break these barriers by offering grants, training and mentorship.
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UNDP Programme Coordinator for Inclusive/Green Business Cinzia Tecce said the financing environment remains the biggest bottleneck for women and other small businesses.
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“Finance is costly. The base lending rate of the central bank is currently 26.4 percent. Banks add the risk profile by 10 percent, making the cost of capital 34 to 36 percent. No entrepreneur can grow a business with such costly finance,” Tecce said.
Tecce said many women lack collateral to unlock capital, leaving them dependent on programs like the Growth Accelerator.
One of the entrepreneurs, Wezzie Mzumara said the program is helping her expand production and create jobs.
“We started off producing 33 kilos of chocolate a week. After joining the program, we doubled to 66 kilos. Now we are targeting 120 kilos a week. The grant facility is going into buying assets to scale production and work with more farmers,” Mzumara said.
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Since 2018, Germany has channeled €24 million through KFW into the Growth Accelerator Project, implemented jointly with UNDP and supported by the Royal Norwegian Embassy.
The Growth Accelerator Project was launched in 2018 and to date has supported youthful-led high impact post revenue businesses across 10 cohorts.
