In Sub-Saharan Africa, more than 80 percent of women are self-employed, managing businesses that range from agriculture to technology and creative industries. This statistic was highlighted at the "Capital to Scale: Supporting Women Entrepreneurs as Job Creators" event during the World Bank-IMF Annual Meetings in Washington, DC.
The discussion, moderated by Nozipho Tshabalala, focused on how increased access to capital could allow women-led businesses to expand and generate employment. Anshula Kant, Managing Director and CFO of the World Bank Group, stated, “When women get a job or a livelihood, they focus on their families, and families make communities, and communities build societies and countries.” She noted the World Bank Group’s goal to reach 80 million more women and women-led businesses with capital by 2030.
Mariana Costa, Co-Founder and President of Laboratoria, emphasized the need for more women in various fields. “If we want a future that really considers the needs of women [in any field], we need more women in that field,” Costa said. She pointed out barriers such as care responsibilities and investor skepticism that limit women's participation in business leadership.
Governor Jameel Ahmad of the State Bank of Pakistan discussed his country’s progress in promoting financial inclusion for women. Through initiatives like the Banking on Equality strategy, female bank accounts in Pakistan grew from 20 million in 2021 to 37 million in 2025. In July 2025, Pakistan joined the WE Finance Code launched by the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), which aims to improve women's access to capital through policy commitments and data-driven solutions. Ahmad explained that banks were encouraged not only to offer services but also address issues such as capacity building and financial literacy among women.
Charlotte Keenan, Managing Director at Goldman Sachs and Global Head of its 10,000 Women initiative, highlighted the importance of comprehensive support for female entrepreneurs. “All elements, policy change, system reform, capital, education, capacity building, mentorship, networks, visibility—all need to be present,” she said. The International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group partnered with Goldman Sachs’ program in 2014 to launch the Women Entrepreneurs Opportunity Facility (WEOF), which has since enabled loans for 267,000 women and mobilized three billion dollars in capital over ten years. Keenan added that this support has led to an estimated creation of over 50,000 jobs.
Jeremy Awori, CEO of Ecobank Transnational—whose institution became West Africa’s first bank to issue a gender bond with IFC—stressed mentorship and training alongside easier access to capital as essential factors for supporting women entrepreneurs. He pointed out challenges such as cash-based businesses making it difficult for women to build credit histories: “Cash is still king... but it doesn't provide data.” Awori explained how even small transactions can help establish financial records necessary for scaling up business operations.
Jasmina Selimović, Governor of the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina—which also signed onto the WE Finance Code—said central banks play a key role through data collection for designing supportive policies. Early survey results showed only 20 percent of SMEs in Bosnia and Herzegovina are owned by women; however only 11 percent of non-performing loans are linked to them—a sign Selimović believes demonstrates lower risk among female entrepreneurs.
Selimović concluded that supporting female entrepreneurship is about creating equal opportunities across society: “It is about a more productive economy.”
Moderator Nozipho Tshabalala summarized by stating: “While bold reforms and financing innovations are really moving the needle, we must act with greater urgency and intentionality. Capital is catalytic, but it has to be paired with mentoring, capacity building and visibility. And then finally evidence matters.”