International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde speaks at a news conference, during the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings in Washington, Thursday, April 11, 2019. AP
WASHINGTON, United States – Abolishing the myriad of obstacles for African women to become entrepreneurs must be a priority on a continent where poverty continues to grow, World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva said Tuesday.
“What we know is that women in Africa are more likely to be entrepreneurs but they face more obstacles than men to create and run their businesses,” she said in an interview with AFP.
Speaking on the eve of the first Women’s Entrepreneurship Financing (We-Fi) summit in West Africa, the chief executive of the Washington-based lender said once women overcome the roadblocks, they tend to be more successful.
The conference “aims to galvanize public policy reforms and also for private sector action to promote women entrepreneurs in West Africa.”
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The obstacles are numerous: women are 9 percent less likely to own a cell phone than men in Africa, and 48 percent less likely to have access to the internet.
There are legal barriers in the region that prevent women from having access to certain jobs, cultural barriers, difficulties being taken seriously when they have not been to school, and especially difficulties in obtaining a bank loan. Without access to funds, it is almost impossible to start a business, Georgieva said.
