The Agence française de développement, AFD has pledged an extra €3 million to the Africa Digital Financial Inclusion Facility (ADFI).
This brings AFD’s total support to over €5 million since ADFI was launched in 2019. The funding aims to increase access to credit and financial services in Africa. It targets underserved groups like women, youth, small businesses, and rural communities.
The African Development Bank manages ADFI. The facility focuses on digital financial solutions that promote investment, resilience, and entrepreneurship.
The African Development Bank and AFD started the ADFI partnership. The Gates Foundation and Luxembourg’s Finance Ministry later joined them. Other supporters include France’s Finance Ministry, the Women’s Enterprise Finance Initiative (We-Fi), and India’s Finance Ministry.
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Supporting Inclusive and Responsible Solutions
AFD aligns financial systems with the Sustainable Development Goals and helps vulnerable communities adapt to change.
“Developing digital financial services is a key pathway to reach financially excluded populations in Africa,” said Audrey Brule-Françoise.
“Through our continued collaboration within ADFI, we aim to promote access to digital financial services that are tailored to diverse needs and delivered in a responsible manner. This new contribution will help scale up impactful and inclusive solutions.”
Mohamadou Ba from the African Development Bank welcomed the renewed support.
“Digital financial solutions are key to improving the quality of life of people in Africa and reducing the gender access to finance gap,” he said.
“We welcome the Agence française de développement’s renewed support of the catalytic role ADFI has been playing in accelerating greater access and usage of digital financial solutions and financial inclusion across the continent. We look forward to working together to scale our efforts to enhance the impact on greater economic empowerment, resilience, and growth across Africa.”
Nearly half of Africa’s adults still lack access to digital financial tools. Women and rural groups are most affected.
ADFI works to close this gap through investments in infrastructure, policies, and product innovation. Gender inclusion and capacity building are part of all its projects.
The program supports the African Development Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy for inclusive growth. It helps improve the lives of people across Africa.