AMOMIF, New Faces, New Voices, Gapi and CCM set to expand digital financial services with a focus on women entrepreneurs

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AMOMIF, New Faces, New Voices, Gapi and CCM set to expand digital financial services with a focus on women entrepreneurs

7:17 CAT | 30 Aug 2024

Photo courtesy: Gapi

The Mozambican Association of Microfinance Operators (AMOMIF), New Faces New Voices, Gapi and the Chamber of Commerce of Mozambique (CCM) last week signed a memorandum of understanding creating a consortium to expand digital financial services primarily to women entrepreneurs.

According to the signatories, the consortium will implement a program whose general objective is to promote access to digital financial services focused on micro and small businesses, and which prioritises the formalisation of businesses owned or led by women.

The program foresees the implementation of (i) resource mobilisation activities for the implementation of the program and in support of the financing of concrete projects; (ii) advocacy in favour of the digitalisation of financial services for businesses, with priority for women entrepreneurs; and (iii) participation in initiatives that promote the formalisation of businesses, particularly in peri-urban markets.

“AMOMIF considers it useful and timely to reflect on the future of microfinance in a context of digital transformation, as this is part of the strategy and work plan, but priority should be given to the design and implementation of concrete activities with a direct impact on the business of micro-financial institutions,” the document reads.

New Faces New Voices joined the consortium due to the need and opportunity to “explore how microfinance can embark on this transformation and contribute to women’s financial inclusion through digital financial services”. These form part of the agenda of this pan-African advocacy and research institution, which advocates for women’s empowerment through providing better access to capital, skills development and the promotion of women in leadership positions in the financial sector.

The document also states that: “Gapi, in its role as a development finance institution, with a national presence and responsibilities in mobilising and applying resources in initiatives that impact social and economic inclusion, carries out its mission and projects preferably through partnerships with other institutions whose missions and experiences contribute to the construction of a network promoting finance for sustainable development”.

Another signatory of the consortium is the Chamber of Commerce of Mozambique, which has a program designed to “promote innovation, entrepreneurship and job-generating investments, through assistance to associations of operators in the informal sector, aiming at the formalisation of these businesses, mainly in peri-urban markets and with a particular focus on digitalization and the promotion of women entrepreneurs”.

These four institutions and the partnerships between them have as a common denominator the mutual commitment to carry out complementary interventions focused on promoting financial inclusion and the empowerment of women entrepreneurs through better access to financial services supported by digital channels and tools.

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The consortium was established in a public session attended by various national and foreign institutions and dignitaries, including the administrator of the Bank of Mozambique, Benedita Guimino, and the councillor for Planning and Finance of the Municipality of Maputo, Armindo Matos.

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