WIC Capital completes $1.6M Investment Fund to support female entrepreneurs in Senegal

The “Women’s Investment Club” (WIC) Senegal and Ecobank have signed a collaboration contract worth one billion CFA francs (USD1,600,000) to support female entrepreneurship in Senegal.

Ecobank’s Managing Director, Sahid Yallou, and Evelyne Dioh Simpa, Executive Director of WIC Capital Senegal, officially presented the symbolic cheque.

“This one-billion-franc financial partnership is a key component of the “Ellever” program, which aims to support women’s financial independence activities by making it easier for them to use modern and appropriate financial instruments.”

Despite Senegal’s well-developed and active entrepreneurial fabric, one of the most significant barriers to growth is a lack of capital. “This is how the project assists female business owners and entrepreneurs,” explained Yallou.

Evelyne Dioh Simpa believes that by pooling resources and efforts, it will be possible to ensure that women-owned SMEs receive more long-term financial support for growth. “This collaboration comes at an ideal time for female entrepreneurs,” she believes.

Women’s access to capital in Senegal is extremely limited, and they are frequently restricted to traditional financial institutions such as banks and microfinance firms. Statistics show that 43.9 percent of Senegalese women entrepreneurs who borrow money do so from family and friends, while only 3.5 percent use financial institutions.

Aside from a lack of platforms that provide necessary capacity building and technical assistance, the development of firms led by women entrepreneurs is hampered by a lack of capital.

As a result, despite their high potential, many businesses fail to grow, and 99 percent remain small.

A group of Senegalese women leaders formed the Women’s Investment Club (WIC) Senegal in response to the financial, technical, and operational challenges that women entrepreneurs face, as well as the enormous growth opportunities that this segment offers.

In March 2019, WIC Senegal launched WIC Capital, the first investment fund in French-speaking West Africa focused on women-led businesses.

Local and international private and institutional investors pool their resources to invest in micro and small women-owned businesses (MSMEs) in Senegal and Ivory Coast through the 11 billion CFA franc investment scheme.