Benin Star Angélique Kidjo seduces G7 leaders into pledging $251 million for africa's women.

African women entrepreneurs must be rubbing their hands. Benin star Angélique Kidjo has managed to secure hundreds of millions of dollars on their behalf from world leaders at the G7. 

According to a BBC report, Angélique Kidjo was at the G7 summit at the French seaside resort of Biarritz with leaders from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom. She was promised $ 251 million. She spoke at the summit as an ambassador for a project on women's fundings with the African Development Bank affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa. This fund is designed to help women get into business and help them grow their businesses.

Kidjo said the priority was for small entrepreneurs to have access to credit. "My main focus is rural women, women market trader and hard-to-reach women ... Women in marketplaces do not trust banks because they are not welcome by those institutions," she said.

Africa has the highest percentage of women entrepreneurs in the world, which means that one in four women creates or runs her own business, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2016/17 report on women. 

By Modeste Dossou The 27th of August 2019 at 19:53

Photo/Benin News

Updated by Ivorycoast Tribune 30/08/2019.