The International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, and the Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa Initiative (ASR Africa) have expanded the reach of the She Wins Africa programme from 100 to 1,000 women entrepreneurs across Sub-Saharan Africa, supported by a $4 million capital increase.
A statement from ASR Africa said the scale-up was announced at the recent closing event of She Wins Africa, where organisers disclosed that strong and impressive results were recorded from the first cohort, alongside growing institutional commitment to the programme.
The statement added that the closing ceremony followed encouraging early outcomes, including the mobilisation of more than $4 million in financing by participating women-led startups during the first phase of the initiative.
Over the past year, She Wins Africa supported women-led small and growing businesses across multiple African markets, delivering measurable results in business growth, investment readiness, and improved access to finance for participating entrepreneurs.
Speaking on the impact of the initiative as it scales to reach 1,000 women, Marieme Niang Camara, IFC’s Senior Operations Officer and Regional Gender Hub Lead for Africa, said the programme started as a pilot but quickly showed its potential for wider impact.
“When we started with 100 women entrepreneurs, it was a successful pilot, but we realised that 100 is just the beginning for a region like Africa,” she said.
According to her, the impact created by the programme, including access to capital and markets for women entrepreneurs, showed that the initiative was worth expanding. She explained that the new phase would adopt a structured approach to support different business stages.
“When you look at the impact it created and the kind of access to capital and markets it gave to those women entrepreneurs, you see this is a program worth scaling. Now we’re moving from 100 to 1,000, and we’re doing it strategically through segmentation—from startups to growth-stage and scale-up companies,” Camara stated.
She added that the programme would offer tailored technical assistance, investment readiness support, and direct access to capital through both funds and IFC-backed banks, describing the approach as a way to turn pilot success into broader regional transformation.
Camara further disclosed that participating startups collectively raised over $4 million, with 17 women-led enterprises successfully accessing external financing, a result that exceeded the programme’s initial targets.
She explained that the initiative delivered technical assistance at scale, including 123 hours of targeted technical support, 22 startups receiving tailored advisory services beyond standard training, 275 investor connections facilitated across regional and international markets, and the mobilisation of 100 mentors across Africa.
All these efforts, she said, were designed to strengthen business fundamentals and improve investor engagement for women-led enterprises participating in the programme.
On his part, Ubon Udoh, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Abdul Samad Rabiu Africa Initiative, described She Wins Africa as one of the most impactful programmes empowering women entrepreneurs on the continent.
“This is one of the most impactful programs on the continent, empowering women entrepreneurs. What they do is not just for individual countries; it’s strengthening the economy of the whole continent,” Udoh said.
He noted that the programme is being scaled up from the first phase, which supported 100 women from 23 countries, to reach 1,000 women across Africa, with an increase in both the number of countries involved and the number of beneficiaries.
According to him, the expansion is expected to create a more sustainable impact and extend the programme’s geographical reach. He said lessons from the first phase are being applied to ensure the success of the second phase.
“We’ve taken valuable learning from the first phase, and we’re applying those insights to ensure the success of this second phase. By supporting this initiative, ASR Africa is contributing to business growth, job creation, and the strengthening of entrepreneurial ecosystems,” Udoh stated.
He further said that the collaboration between IFC and ASR Africa on the She Wins Africa project has motivated ASR Africa to review its mentorship programme, which is designed to support young female entrepreneurs across the continent.
Udoh also highlighted the hybrid approach adopted by She Wins Africa, which combines knowledge support with access to capital for women-led businesses, describing it as the foundation of the programme’s Phase 1 success.
According to him, She Wins Africa offers additional value through business coaching, master classes, and investment-readiness training, enabling founders to strengthen operations, refine business models, and improve their ability to attract private capital.
He added that a core pillar of the programme is the use of catalytic funding to help crowd in private investment for women-led enterprises across Africa.
Through an initial catalytic grant envelope of approximately $100,000, Udoh said the programme helped mobilise nearly $400,000 in follow-on investment by working with regional and local investment partners, including Octerra Capital, IMEX, Sahel Capital, Nubia Capital, and Convergence Advisory.
He explained that these funds supported startups in making critical operational investments such as expanding production capacity, strengthening infrastructure, and hiring additional staff, while also reducing investor risk and accelerating business growth.
Udoh said the inaugural cohort comprised women-led startups at different stages of development, ranging from early-stage ventures to more established enterprises, allowing for stage-appropriate support across the entrepreneurial journey.
He noted that through targeted investment-readiness support, investor engagement, and strategic partnerships, She Wins Africa has demonstrated the value of tailored approaches in addressing the financing gap faced by women entrepreneurs.
The expanded phase represents the first of four projects initially envisioned under the She Wins Africa umbrella, with the scale-up significantly increasing the programme’s reach and potential impact across the continent.
IFC and ASR Africa stated that the next phase will prioritise scale-ready ventures while continuing to support early-stage businesses, with the aim of building a stronger and more resilient pipeline of women-led enterprises positioned to drive inclusive economic growth across Africa.
