Flutterwave, a Nigerian fintech company providing payments infrastructures for global merchants, has pledged $50,000 to support women-led businesses across Africa. This is to be part of their contribution to the International Women’s Day celebrations.
The grant, announced on Wednesday via LinkedIn, was made in light of the $42bn financing gap for women in business across Africa.
The company specifies that the businesses be recommended by individuals. Businesses chosen will be awarded $5000 in Ad Spend, a video and a product shoot alongside other marketing benefits from Flutterwave.
“A way to support women-led small businesses is to provide them with much needed funding to get in front of their chosen audience quickly. This way, they can break the business bias and get ahead in their various industries. We need more women business leaders,” Flutterwave’s Chief Operating Officer Bode Abifarin said. “We’re excited to extend $50,000 in grants to these women and we hope this will have a very positive effect on their business and growth.”
In addition to Mr. Abifarin’s statement, a report on the Flutterwave site, also listed the requirements for women-led businesses to get funding from FlutterWave. These requirements include having an active and functional Flutterwave Stores and that the business be registered in the country where it operates.
The International Women’s Day theme for 2022 called for companies and individuals to #BreakTheBias seen especially in women’s financial and workplace inequalities as compared to their male counterparts.