Ecobank opens female-focused branch in Cameroon.

Found in the heart of Bonanjo, the administrative neighbourhood of Douala, in the Littoral Region, the branch saw its doors opened on March 7.

The inauguration ceremony was presided over by the Minister of Women’s Empowerment and the Family, Prof Marie Thérèse Abena Ondoa.

The opening of the branch, officials said, represents a further extension of Ecobank’s flagship women’s empowerment initiative, dubbed “Ellevate.” The initiative was launched in March 2021. 

It is also part of the Ecobank Group’s strategy, which aims at bridging the financial gap between men and women as well as promoting equality by helping women entrepreneurs succeed and reach their full potential.

Why a female-oriented branch

The Managing Director of Ecobank Cameroon, Gwendoline Abunaw, who spoke during the event, said the opening of the branch, dedicated to women, is the result of the growing interest in Ecobank’s “Ellevate” program.

She added that this has also come to “strengthen our positioning and our determination to be the bank of choice for businesses geared towards women,”.

The Ellevate lnitiative, she said, offers a comprehensive set of financial and non-financial solutions for businesses owned or led by women or those whose business targets women. 

It provides its users with smarter cash management solutions, favorable loan rates and value-added services such as business and leadership skills training and networking opportunities.

This is specifically designed to help them fill the financing gap and to develop their businesses.

According to the Managing Director of Ecobank Cameroon: “The growth of women-led and women-focused businesses has been long hampered by a range of impediments, including access to finance.”

She went on to add that: “We have, especially, designed Ellevate to meet the needs of women entrepreneurs. Ecobank Commercial Banking is allocating a minimum of 10% of its loan portfolio to women’s businesses”.

She underlined that: “Women-led businesses are a largely underserved market and Ecobank Cameroon is determined to help them reach their potential, grasp business opportunities and become both scalable and sustainable,”. 

This, she said, will enable them play a major role in Africa’s social and economic development, in addition to creating hundreds of thousands of jobs. She disclosed that Ellevate now has 2,000 customers.

It should be noted that Small and Medium-sized Enterprises SMEs, account for about 90% of all businesses in Africa. Women own about a third of all registered African SMEs. 

At least one-in-four, 25.9% of adult women in Africa start or manage a business. 

However, women have not enjoyed equal access to high quality, demand driven financial services. It is estimated that women-owned SMEs face a US$42 billion financing gap, making lack of access to financing a common constraint to their business growth.

Minister hails Ecobank

The opening of the female focused agency, which coincided with the 2024 International Women's Day, was also seen as part of government’s program to empower women by improving access to financing for women-owned businesses. 

Upon delivering the inaugural speech, Prof Marie Thérèse Abena Ondoa saluted the financial institution for its efforts to empower women.

To her, the opening of the female-foused branch is in line with the theme of the 39th edition of the International Women’s Day in Cameron, which was “Invest women: accelerate progress”. 

The theme, the minister said, clearly sets out the need to improve access to finance, particularly for women as it is one of the key services for women's economic empowerment.

In addition, she emphasised that her ministry is implementing a whole program on women's economic empowerment to develop women’s entrepreneurship and build the capacities of women living in rural areas. 

She hailed Ecobank for assisting government to facilitate women's financial inclusion.

Minister Abena Ondoa applauded the Ellevate onitiative by Ecobank, which provides online training and coaching for women to get them acquainted with digital technology.

“I would like to extend my warmest congratulations to the Managing Director of ECOBANK, for her contribution to strengthening women's access to financial and non-financial services. Accelerating progress requires even stronger socio-economic strategies on the part of the government and all the other stakeholders,” the minister said.

Accelerating progress, she said, also requires the urgent implementation of synergies and collaborative approaches that can give new impetus to progress on gender equality.

Each year, International Women's Day focuses on a theme that calls for coordinated and effective action to solve the specific problems faced by women. 

This year's team, she noted, invites each and everyone to join forces to turn the challenges faced by women.