Lagos – Nigeria, January 19, 2023

To kickstart a landmark support for female African entrepreneurs in 2023, FATE Foundation is pleased to announce that it has received a 1M USD grant from Google.org to improve the financial and digital capacity of Micro-women entrepreneurs in Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa while supporting them with micro-grant financing.  This announcement follows the $1m commitment in charitable funding made by Google.org during the 2022 International Women’s Day to support programs helping women entrepreneurs to grow their businesses.

“Through this initiative, women entrepreneurs with nano and micro-enterprises in these three African countries will receive the relevant training and resources to help grow their businesses” says Tamilore Oni, Program Manager, Google.org, EMEA. “FATE Foundation aims to provide financial literacy, digital literacy and business management training to underserved female-led businesses in Nigeria, Kenya, and South Africa. Working with, the Foundation will also provide; much-needed growth support (including business registration, network and community building); and micro-grant financing to these women entrepreneurs. ”

“Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rate (42%) of female entrepreneurs in the world according to the World Bank. While the number of women operating their businesses is increasing, women continue to face huge obstacles that stunt the growth of their businesses. 20% of female-owned businesses in South Africa fail every year. 49% of Kenyan women do not have a formal bank account compared to 75% of men.  Also, most women-led businesses are nano and micro-businesses, with only 22% at the small and medium stage according to the Nigeria Bureau of Statistics (NBS).”

Adenike Adeyemi, Executive Director, FATE Foundation noted that “FATE Foundation is excited to work with notable enterprise support organisations Somo Africa in Kenya and Technoserve in South Africa, to provide business and grant support to 4,140 female entrepreneurs. “Our aim is to help improve their critical soft skills such as confidence building, negotiation, business marketing skills while providing financing to start, grow and sustain businesses which will empower themselves, their families and their communities. Special consideration will be given to women who are breadwinners, widows, and single parents.”

The grant funding will also be used to facilitate entrepreneurship ecosystem insights and learnings on policy and program strategies to better support female-led micro businesses consequently working beyond itself to engage with and influence the entrepreneurial ecosystem that these businesses are operating in.

To learn more about the three organisations, please visit their websites

FATE Foundation: www.fatefoundation.org/brpwomen

Somo Africa: https://www:.somoafrica.org/

Technoserve South Africa:https://www.technoserve.org/our-work/where-we-work/south-africa/

About FATE Foundation

FATE Foundation is a Non-Profit Organisation that seeks to enable aspiring and emerging Nigerian Entrepreneurs to start, grow and scale their businesses, while also facilitating the development of an enabling business and thriving ecosystem. The organisation’s mission is to foster wealth creation by promoting business and entrepreneurial development among Nigerians and has since 2000 supported over 200,000 Nano, Micro, Small and Medium enterprises across 31 states in Nigeria.

About Google.org

Google.org, Google’s philanthropy, supports nonprofits that address humanitarian issues and apply scalable, data-driven innovation to solving the world’s biggest challenges. We accelerate their progress by connecting them with a unique blend of support that includes funding, products, and technical expertise from Google volunteers. We engage with these believers-turned-doers who make a significant impact on the communities they represent, and whose work has the potential to produce meaningful change. We want a world that works for everyone—and we believe technology and innovation can move the needle.