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Female SME owners in five African countries have been awarded an international women’s day grants from a San Francisco and Lagos-based fintech start-up Flutterwave. The grants will help female business owners grow i their customer base and increase the volume of annual transactions by targeting Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
Flutterwave provides a payment service for global merchants and payment service providers processing 107 million transactions worth $5.4 billion (Sh543 billion) globally, according to company data. The grants will be awarded to women-led businesses in five African countries.
The payments solutions company said the grant is open to small to medium-sized enterprises to five African countries including Nigeria, Kenya, Ghana, Rwanda, and South Africa for women from the age of 21.
“Winners will be chosen by a panel of judges appointed by Flutterwave and verified by the company. The winner will be notified by email within two weeks of the closing date for entries,” the company stated.
One female SME owner from each of the countries will receive a grant of $1000. The applications will be ending on 23rd March 2020 and winners announced two weeks after. “Winners will be chosen by a panel of judges appointed by Flutterwave.
Their support for SMEs is pegged on the representation of SMEs to the economy. For instance, in the EU. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the backbone of Europe’s economy which represent 99% of all businesses in the EU.
SME owners create over 85% of new jobs and provided two-thirds of the total private sector employment. SMEs are the key to ensuring economic growth, innovation, job creation, and social integration in Africa and beyond. They also Promote competitiveness and innovation as they aspects in relation to industry and enterprise, in particular for SMEs.
Female SME owners are more optimistic about going into next year than male small business owners. According to an analysis by b 84 per cent of women, small business owners expect year-over-year growth. More women small business owners than men.
These findings from the Bank of America Small Business Owner Report Survey for 2019. The survey included 1,323 small businesses in the U.S. With annual revenue between $100,000 and $4,999,999 and between 2 and 99 employees. Of which 524 were female SME owners.
In an earlier comment by the Flutterwave Kenya country director and East Africa business head Elizaphan Mouko in an interview with the Business Daily as noted that SMEs are the backbone of the economy.
