AWIEF is an award-winning pan-African women economic empowerment organisation, that has been granted a Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). AWIEF works to close the gender gap by driving women’s business leadership and entrepreneurship in Africa.
AWIEF is an award-winning women economic empowerment organisation that supports women entrepreneurs in Africa to grow their business and fulfil their potential.
Our mission is to foster women’s economic inclusion, advancement and empowerment through entrepreneurship support and development. Our vision is an inclusive and thriving Africa where women-owned businesses are empowered to create and grow high-impact and sustainable businesses, contributing to increasing Africa’s GDP and economic growth.
We are a high-level Signatory to the IFC Principles for Learning.
We have been granted Special Consultative Status to the United Nations ECOSOC.
We are an award-winning Organisation.
Our award-winning annual conference took place on the 26 and 27 September 2022 on-site at The Nile Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Cairo, Egypt and online via our virtual event platform. #AWIEF2022 saw a stellar line-up of experts, thought leaders, policymakers, researchers, investors and women entrepreneurs tackle the big issues facing Africa’s entrepreneurs and discuss the way forward.
AWIEF and the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative of the African Development Bank (AfDB) have joined forces to drive increased access to finance and markets for women-owned and women-led small and medium enterprises (WSMEs) across Southern, East and West Africa.
The new AfDB funded AWIEF programme “Solutions Catalysing Increased Access to Capital for the Success of Women Entrepreneurs” aims to accelerate efforts to address gender inequality to drive inclusive economic transformation. More than 500 growth-oriented WSMEs across 8 African countries will be supported for scale, access to markets and investment readiness.
AWIEF are excited to announce our new program in partnership with USAID Southern Africa Trade and Investment Hub (USAID TradeHub). The USAID-funded ‘Enhanced Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Investment and Export Readiness Through a Digital Platform’ program aims to increase the investor, export readiness, and competitiveness of 100 SMEs in nine Southern African countries: Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, and Zambia.
The objectives of this new AWIEF program are to increase exports from the Southern African countries to South Africa and increase exports from the nine targeted Southern African countries to the United States, leveraging AGOA.
AWIEF has partnered with GIZ and Amazon Web Services (AWS) to launch a Digital Skills Training program for 60 young women in South Africa.
This new AWIEF program, based on AWS re/Start, will enhance the skills levels and employability of unemployed and under-employed young females in South Africa. Raising their digital literacy and skills will increase their level of employability and work readiness.
The digital skills development and training program includes a one-week Bootcamp and 12-week full-time Virtual Learning, Monday through to Friday. It will lead to two AWS Certifications (Foundation and Associate levels). Getting AWS Certified helps you showcase in-demand job skills, builds your credibility and confidence.
The Academy for Women Entrepreneurs (AWE) is designed to empower 50 million women worldwide by 2025 to fulfill their economic potential, and in doing so, create conditions for increased stability, security, and prosperity for all.
AWE’s mission is to support the growth of women entrepreneurs by equipping them with the practical skills, resources, mentorship, and networks needed to create sustainable businesses.
The 16-week long AWE South Africa program is implemented in partnership with U.S. Embassy in Pretoria.
AWIEF is hosting the 2022 cohort of its flagship AWIEF Growth Accelerator, sponsored by Nedbank.
The AWIEF Growth Accelerator is designed to support the unique needs of early-stage and high growth-oriented women-led ventures with business modelling, growth strategy training, corporate advisory, mentorship, networks, and access to strategic partnerships. The accelerator provides capital-raising support for growth, scale and sustainability. It builds women’s entrepreneurial leadership capacity, connects them with appropriate sources of capital and helps them scale.
FemBioBiz enables female entrepreneurs and leaders in bioscience-based businesses to grow their business through an accelerator programme, gain regional exposure and access international markets. The programme is implemented in partnership with NEPAD-SANBio.
Now in Season 4, the FemBioBiz Accelerator Programme will focus on training for resilience and imparting skills and knowledge to enterprises, academics, students, government and civil society on how to use technology to support their enterprises for scale and impact. It aims to provide training to Fem-led enterprises on how to reach new markets using digital platforms.
AWIEF partnered with Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), Morocco to launch LEADTECH INCUBATION PROGRAM. Despite Africa being one of the fastest growing technology markets in the world, women’s participation in the technology sector remains considerably low. LeadTech is a continental program to support promising and innovative women-owned or women-led digital startups in Agriculture, Biotech, Education, Environment, Finance, and Health.
Join us for AWIEF Community’s first Masterclass for 2023 as the Egyptian trailblazing entrepreneur and 2022 AWIEF Lifetime Achievement Award winner, Ms Manal Amin, shares
What a year it’s been! We’re taking a break and will come back ready to make an even bigger impact in the new year. But
Our AWE alumni shone this weekend at the annual Women’s Entrepreneurship Expo 2022 hosted by the United States Mission to South Africa and AWIEF. This
AWIEF’s mission is to foster the economic inclusion, advancement and empowerment of women in Africa through entrepreneurship support and development.
