Ecobank Group, the leading pan-African banking institution, has announced a landmark 194 per cent surge in lending to women-led businesses, providing a record $780m in loans over the course of 2025.

The announcement, made in commemoration of International Women’s Day 2026, highlights a massive scaling of the bank’s gender-focused initiatives. Total lending to registered women-led enterprises rose from $265m in 2024 to $780m last year, as the bank moves aggressively to close the $42bn financing gap that currently hampers female entrepreneurs across the continent.

Speaking on the release of the Ecobank Gender Programme Report, the Group Chief Executive Officer of Ecobank, Jeremy Awori, emphasised that financial inclusion is the primary engine for Africa’s broader economic 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.

“At Ecobank, we are working to close this gap by combining capital, capability building and market access through our pan-African platform,” Awori stated.

The bank’s flagship Ellevate programme has been central to this growth. Since its inception in 2020, the initiative has expanded to 26 countries across West, Central, East, and Southern Africa. By the end of 2025, the ecosystem supported over 103,000 registered women entrepreneurs, with 24,000 receiving specialised mentoring and non-financial business support.

A unique pillar of Ecobank’s strategy is its focus on the “informal” sector, the small-scale traders and artisans who form the backbone of African marketplaces but often lack the documentation required for traditional bank loans. Through the MAMA programme, launched in Ghana, the bank is providing a pathway for these women to build financial records.

“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 just its second year, the MAMA initiative has enrolled 10,000 women and disbursed over $1.8m in subsidised credit facilities.

The bank is also pioneering new financial instruments to sustain this momentum. In March 2025, Ecobank Ivory Coast launched a historic Gender Bond, the first of its kind in the WAEMU region. The bond was a runaway success, raising XOF 11 billion ($18.2m) in just 48 hours.

“The strong growth in lending to women-led businesses reflects both the demand from entrepreneurs and the impact of initiatives such as Ellevate and our Gender Bond.

“These help mobilise capital specifically to support women-led growth,” Awori added.

Looking toward 2027, Ecobank confirmed plans to deepen its digital toolsets for female business owners and strengthen partnerships with development finance institutions. By connecting these businesses to the Ecobank Single Market Trade Hub, the bank aims to ensure that “local” women-led businesses can eventually compete on a continental scale.

Ecobank is the leading private pan-African banking group, operating in 34 sub-Saharan countries. With over 32 million customers and 14,000 employees, it serves as a primary gateway for payments, trade, and investment across the continent.