The Foundation investments were made in connection with United States Vice President Kamala Harris’s trip to Africa and the creation of a new Women in the Digital Economy Fund and follows Visa’s recent pledge to invest $1 billion in Africa to advance resilient, innovative, and inclusive economies.

Visa Foundation’s support would focus on increasing access to financial solutions and other services for women entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa, to drive equitable digital financial access as countries continue to digitize.

The contributions will be allocated to programs that address the digital gender divide, and support women’s full participation in the 21st century economy.

“Expanding access to digital financial services lies at the core of Visa’s purpose, and our company and Visa Foundation are committed to helping address gender disparity and connecting more people to the global economy,” said Aida Diarra, Senior Vice President and Head of Sub-Saharan Africa at Visa.  “We welcome and are pleased to support important global initiatives, such as the Women in Digital Economy Fund, and we look forward to working with government, NGO and private sector partners to create equitable access for all.”

Today, an estimated 500 million people in Africa are without access to formal financial services, less than 50% of the adult population made or received digital payments in Africa, and more than 40 million merchants do not accept digital payments. Visa and Visa Foundation are dedicated to expanding financial inclusion by empowering small-business and women-led entrepreneurship in Africa through various programmes.

Since inception, Visa Foundation has committed over $200 million to 50+ countries across various initiatives.

The Foundation’s support has also helped partner organizations reach over 2 million SMBs, globally. In Sub-Saharan Africa, notable grants and investments include:

• AfriLabs to support women led SMBs through a women’s accelerator program which will provide technical assistance and access to capital.
• Aruwa Capital to provide financing to women-led SMBs in Africa and provide the fundamentals for SMBs to grow and scale
• TLCom TIDE Africa Fund to continue investing in African companies that use technology as a lever to solve Africa’s societal challenges.

Visa has also introduced a series of initiatives to support women’s empowerment together with financial partners.

These include a partnership with Vodacom in the DRC to empower women with disabilities, a collaboration with the Hand in Hand Kenya Micro-Enterprise Success Program, which supported 8,200 women entrepreneurs over three years, and She’s Next, which brings funding, mentoring and networking opportunities to female entrepreneurs leading growing SMBs in Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, and South Africa.

The funding comes as part of Visa Foundation’s five-year, $200 Million Equitable Access Initiative launched in April 2020, a strategic commitment to support gender diverse and inclusive SMBs around the world. 

Visa Foundation will direct the grants to AfriLabs, the largest and most diverse community of technology hubs, innovators, and entrepreneurs in the African ecosystem, and Graça Machel Trust, a women founded and-led Pan African nonprofit raising the profile of women’s economic empowerment and gender-lens investment on the continent.

The combined $1 Million in funding will prioritize the growth of gender diverse and inclusive small and micro businesses (SMBs) in the region. Through the Equitable Access Initiative, Visa Foundation as of January 2023 has committed $162 Million in grants and investments to 60 grantees and investees in more than 60 countries and supported 3.4 million small businesses globally, including in Africa.

According to the World Bank, while Africa boasts of the highest growth rate of female-run businesses in the world, women only receive one percent of funding from VCs.

Women business owners continue to face challenges that are unique to them—ranging from patriarchy, cultural norms and unconscious bias that impacts women’s ability to access markets, finance, technology and networks. The global pandemic further exacerbated these challenges as women-led SMBs were hardest hit.

“Visa Foundation is working around the world with partners to eliminate barriers to capital by investing in those who have been historically excluded from economic opportunity,” said Graham Macmillan, president, Visa Foundation. “We’re excited to support growing women entrepreneurs in Africa through these impactful organizations that address the stark gender investment gap across the region.”

Through the Visa Foundation grant, AfriLabs will fund its RevUp Women Initiative which supports early-stage, women-led startups in Africa. The initiative entails capacity-building training and mentoring to 500 beneficiaries, and 10 business owners will be selected to receive a $10,000 investment each through the Catalytic Africa matching fund. 

The first cohort of beneficiaries will be selected from Nigeria, Kenya, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and South Africa. The call for applications is ongoing. 

According to Anna Ekeledo, AfriLabs Executive Director, “We are pleased with the Visa Foundation’s support for the initiative because it aligns with our inclusion strategy and sets the tone for our larger vision, part of which is to support 50,000 women-led enterprises by 2026.”

With its funding, Graça Machel Trust will grow its flagship enterprise development program ‘Women Creating Wealth’ in Uganda, Kenya, and South Africa to reach 100 women-led, small-to-medium sized businesses. 

The ‘Firestarters’ initiative builds on the current investor readiness programme the organization has in place that helps ‘missing middle’ women entrepreneurs scale their businesses and galvanize action around access to capital at the country, regional and continental levels. 

“We are proud to partner with Visa Foundation to break down some of the structural barriers faced by women entrepreneurs in Africa,” said Melizsa Mugyenyi, CEO, Graça Machel Trust. “It’s an honor for our programs to be recognized by a leading organization like Visa Foundation, with a like-minded mission of spotlighting gender-lens investment and women’s empowerment.”