AXIAN Group and the African Development Bank are partnering to provide tailored digital financial products and services to 34,000 women-led micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in Madagascar, Tanzania and Senegal in the first phase of the programme.
The second phase will provide financial literacy, digital skills and entrepreneurship training to 25,000 women across Madagascar, Tanzania, Senegal, Togo and Comoros.
According to AXIAN, the programme will use mobile money services, digital lending and alternative credit assessment to reach women entrepreneurs who have traditionally been underserved by conventional financial systems.
The telco said women-owned businesses represent a significant untapped economic opportunity in Africa, but continue to face barriers to accessing the financial tools needed to expand and create jobs.
The programme will be implemented through AXIAN Group's digital financial services platforms, Mixx and MVola, which combine digital lending, financial literacy training, business development services and digital inclusion initiatives.
It will focus on expanding access to digital finance for women-led businesses, strengthening financial and digital literacy, developing products tailored to women entrepreneurs, accelerating digital inclusion through mobile technology, and supporting women-owned businesses to enter and grow in the formal economy.
The initiative builds on the African Development Bank's broader support for AXIAN Telecom.
In January 2025, the Bank approved a $160 million senior corporate loan to support digital connectivity and financial inclusion across nine African countries, including dedicated funding for 22,000 women entrepreneurs in Madagascar.
Supported through the African Development Bank's Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative and the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative, the programme aims to address limited access to finance among women-owned businesses.
The partners said Africa has the highest rate of female entrepreneurship worldwide, while women entrepreneurs face an estimated $49 billion financing gap.
“Across Africa, millions of women are already running successful businesses. The challenge is not entrepreneurship. The challenge is access to finance, to digital tools and to opportunities for growth,” said Erwan Gelebart, CEO of AXIAN Digibank and Fintech. “Through Mixx and MVola, we are using technology and financial innovation to support women entrepreneurs in building stronger businesses, creating jobs and participating more fully in the digital economy. This programme is about unlocking opportunity at scale.”
Melissa Basque-Roux, AFAWA coordinator, African Development Bank, said women entrepreneurs remain central to Africa's economic transformation but face barriers to finance, digital tools and business support.
“Through AFAWA and We-Fi, the African Development Bank is pleased to support this partnership with AXIAN, Mixx and MVola. The partnership will expand tailored digital financial services, strengthen financial literacy and unlock new opportunities for women-led businesses across the continent,” she said.
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