Women Entrepreneurship Development Project (WEDP)2.0

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The Women Entrepreneurship Development Project 2.0 (WEDP 2.0) supports the growth of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that are fully or partially owned by women. The project comprises four components. Component 1 - Access to Finance leverages a network of banks and microfinance institutions to offer business loans and de-risking opportunities to eligible MSMEs. Component 2 - Access to Markets supports women entrepreneurs in expanding their product offering and sales channels. Component 3 - Access to Business Development Services builds the capacity of women entrepreneurs through skills training and relevant business tools. Lastly, Component 4 - Project and Knowledge Management supports program implementation and captures impacts and operational lessons. The project will cover the following thematic areas: (i) Gender- the entire project will be dedicated to the women who have much less access then male entrepreneurs (ii) climate resilience and adaptation - providing loans to women to build resilience against climate (iii) Digital agenda - supporting the use of digital technology for training, access to finance and access to markets, (iv) inclusivity - having Islamic finance solutions in addition to conventional banking and (v) partnerships - leveraging partnerships including with the private sector to maximize impact and sustainability.WEDP 2.0 builds on the successes of the existing WEDP project, incorporates lessons learned and responds to the changing needs of women entrepreneurs. WEDP 2.0 will continue the productive partnerships with the Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE) and the Ethiopian Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) to reach women-led firms in cities and towns across all of Ethiopia's regional states. WEDP 2.0 also continues WEDP's partnership with the Africa Gender Innovation Lab's Innovations in Financing Women Entrepreneurs (IFWE) initiative to pilot, evaluate and scale up new approaches to supporting Ethiopia's women entrepreneurs.