Multinational - 50 Million African Women Speak Networking Platform Project

The project aims to create and deploy a social media platform called "50 million African women have a voice". This Platform, which will have a regional scope, will address the specific problems faced by women, particularly women entrepreneurs, namely low levels of education and entrepreneurial training, poor access to finance and financial services, and poor access to information. In particular, women will benefit, through this initiative, from entrepreneurial training, mentoring, financial services and relevant local business information, while establishing their own networks of contacts. In its implementation, the project will build on the ubiquity and popularity of mobile phones to reduce the burden of learning and access to information and services, which will enable women to manage their businesses and social conditions. The project will also provide an opportunity to collect important statistics on financial inclusion in Africa. The project targets three Regional Economic Communities (RECs), including the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC), and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). It will be implemented over a three-year period, starting in 2017, with a total estimated cost of UA 9.8 million.