Telecommunications and media company Millicom has announced that all of its Tigo operations in Africa, and Zantel, have joined GSMA's Connected Women Commitment Initiative – established to reduce the gender gap in mobile internet and mobile money services.

According to Millicom, Tigo Chad, Senegal, Tanzania and Ghana, together with Tigo Rwanda and Zantel have committed to increase the proportion of their female customers using mobile financial services and Tigo Chad has also committed to increase the proportion of female customers using mobile internet.

The telco believes this commitment will have a significant impact in accelerating the participation of women in the growing mobile economy across the continent.

"Across markets, Tigo and Zantel have been supporting women by providing products, services and tools designed specifically for them. Last month, Zantel in Tanzania committed to supporting the Association of Seaweed Farmers in Zanzibar by providing training to 2,000 women in entrepreneurship and finance management," says Millcom.

"In May, as part of its Frw.50 million Tigo Women Entrepreneurship Fund, Tigo Rwanda also trained an inaugural cohort of 70 women on financial business management and customer service. As part of this initiative, graduates from the Tigo sales school were awarded Frw 100,000 each as start-up capital to become Tigo cash agents," the company added.

Cynthia Gordon, CEO of Millicom's Africa Division, said, "It is essential for Tigo to increase the participation of women in the growing mobile economy. Joining this initiative reflects our commitment to closing the mobile gender gap and enabling women to experience the benefits of mobile internet and mobile financial services."

Gordon continued, "We are undertaking specific commitments to connect hundreds of thousands of women, who have never had access to the Internet before, with the incredible life-changing opportunities of online services. This can make measureable differences in their lives and their communities."