Ecobank Group has announced a 194 per cent increase in lending to women-led businesses, providing a record $780m in loans during 2025.
The pan-African banking institution disclosed this while commemorating International Women’s Day 2026, highlighting a significant expansion of its gender-focused financial initiatives.
According to the bank, total lending to registered women-led enterprises rose sharply from $265m in 2024 to $780m in 2025. The increase forms part of the bank’s broader efforts to help close the estimated $42bn financing gap faced by female entrepreneurs across Africa.
Speaking during the release of the Ecobank Gender Programme Report, the Group Chief Executive Officer, Jeremy Awori, said empowering women entrepreneurs is critical to strengthening Africa’s economic growth and stability.
“Women entrepreneurs are among the most powerful drivers of local economic growth across Africa, yet many still face barriers to finance that limit their ability to scale,” Awori said.
“At Ecobank, we are working to close this gap by combining capital, capability building and market access through our pan-African platform,” he added.
A key driver of the bank’s strategy is its flagship Ellevate programme, which was launched in 2020 to support women-owned and women-led businesses.
The programme has expanded to 26 countries across West, Central, East and Southern Africa. By the end of 2025, it had supported more than 103,000 registered women entrepreneurs, while 24,000 participants received specialised mentoring and non-financial business support.
Ecobank also focuses on women operating within the informal sector, which includes small-scale traders and artisans who often lack the documentation required for traditional bank loans.
Through the MAMA programme launched in Ghana, the bank provides support to help these entrepreneurs gradually build financial records and transition into the formal economy.
“Many of these entrepreneurs generate strong daily cash flows but remain excluded from traditional financing due to limited documentation,” the report noted.
“By supporting gradual business formalisation, the programme enables women to transition into the formal economy and gain access to larger financing opportunities over time,” it added.
In its second year, the MAMA initiative has already enrolled about 10,000 women and disbursed more than $1.8m in subsidised credit facilities.
The bank is also introducing new financial instruments to strengthen its gender finance strategy.
In March 2025, Ecobank Ivory Coast launched a Gender Bond, the first of its kind in the West African Economic and Monetary Union region. The bond raised XOF 11bn, equivalent to $18.2m, within 48 hours.
Awori said the strong lending growth reflects increasing demand from women entrepreneurs and the effectiveness of initiatives such as the Ellevate programme and the Gender Bond.
“These help mobilise capital specifically to support women-led growth,” he said.
Looking ahead, Ecobank said it plans to deepen its digital tools for female business owners and strengthen partnerships with development finance institutions.
The bank also intends to connect more women-led businesses to the Ecobank Single Market Trade Hub to help them expand their reach beyond local markets.
Ecobank Group operates in 34 sub-Saharan African countries and serves more than 32 million customers through a workforce of over 14,000 employees. The bank plays a major role in facilitating payments, trade and investment across the continent.
