The World Bank has approved $100 million in financing from the International Development Association (IDA) to expand access to finance and accelerate growth for women entrepreneurs in Benin, marking one of the country’s most significant investments yet in women-led African enterprise development across both the formal and informal sectors.
The financing will support the Women Entrepreneurship Development and Access to Finance Program (WEDAF), a results-based Programme-for-Results (PforR) initiative designed to strengthen women-owned and women-led micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) as engines of job creation, wealth generation and inclusive economic growth.
Under WEDAF, the government will establish a Women’s Business Center and deliver loans, training, mentoring and career advice to more than 10,000 women-led MSMEs nationwide. The programme will also competitively select a cohort of high-potential women-owned enterprises, known as Les Agodjié, champions of women’s entrepreneurship, to receive intensive market-oriented support.
These Agodjié Champions will benefit from a comprehensive package that includes technical assistance, access to tailored financing instruments, investment-readiness support, market access and structured mentorship, positioning them as flagships of the Beninese economy and drivers of job creation.
Breaking Structural Barriers
World Bank officials say the programme directly targets the structural barriers that continue to constrain women-led businesses across Africa.
“In addition to the challenges that all businesses face, women face specific barriers that limit the creation, development, and growth of their businesses,” said Mamadou Tanou Baldé, World Bank Acting Country Manager for Benin. “The WEDAF program aims to accelerate the growth of women-owned and women-led businesses and strengthen their role in creating jobs and wealth.”
Baldé added that evidence consistently shows that “when women entrepreneurs have access to finance, training, and mentorship, their business performance and job creation increase significantly.”
IFC Brings Private-Sector Firepower
The programme is reinforced by substantial complementary support from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private-sector arm of the World Bank Group. IFC will contribute its expertise in capital structuring, mobilization of regional investors and tailored advisory services to help women entrepreneurs overcome capacity, formalization and financing constraints.
Beyond advisory services, IFC will deploy its own financing solutions, targeting small and medium enterprises with commercial potential, while expanding the number of women-led businesses able to access growth capital. This includes current and future investments, as well as advisory initiatives such as the Banking on Women program, delivered through partner financial institutions.
The scale of the challenge remains stark.
“Only 3.9% of women-managed businesses have access to bank loans and many operate in a market segment underserved by microfinance institutions or commercial banks,” said Vincent Arthur Floreani, IFC Country Officer for Benin. “This program is a real opportunity to turn women entrepreneurs into true national champions.”
Anchored in Benin’s Long-Term SME Strategy
WEDAF is aligned with Benin’s National Policy for the Development and Promotion of SMEs 2025–2035, which aims to ensure that by 2035, Beninese MSMEs operate competitively within a strong institutional framework and a business environment conducive to wealth creation and decent, sustainable jobs.
For Africa’s entrepreneurship ecosystem, the $100 million programme signals a growing shift by global development institutions toward results-driven financing that places women entrepreneurs at the centre of economic transformation.
In Benin, WEDAF is positioning women-led enterprises not as marginal players, but as national economic champions with the scale, skills and capital to drive long-term growth.
