{"id":12187,"date":"2024-06-04T13:39:02","date_gmt":"2024-06-04T13:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=12187"},"modified":"2024-06-04T13:39:02","modified_gmt":"2024-06-04T13:39:02","slug":"annual-meetings-2024-centenary-rural-and-development-bank-named-affirmative-finance-action-for-women-in-africa-initiatives-afawa-bank-of-the-year-at-african-banker-awards","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=12187","title":{"rendered":"Annual Meetings 2024: Centenary Rural and Development Bank named Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa initiative\u2019s \u201cAFAWA Bank of the Year\u201d at African Banker Awards"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 53 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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A Kampala-based commercial bank with a \u201cmission critical focus\u201d to provide financial services to vulnerable women entrepreneurs has been named the \u201cAFAWA Bank of the Year\u201d at the African Banker Awards.<\/p>\n

Centenary Rural and Development Bank picked up the honor named after African Development Bank\u2019s Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA)\u00a0(https:\/\/apo-opa.co\/3Kt8IUg<\/a>) initiative at the awards ceremony held during the African Development Bank\u2019s Annual Meetings underway in Nairobi, Kenya. The African Banker Awards celebrate excellence and best practices in African banking and finance. The AFAWA Bank of the Year accolade recognizes the commitment of Centenary Rural and Development Bank \u2013 popularly known as Centenary Bank \u2013 to advancing women access to finance, like its \u201cCente Supawoman\u201d financial product that offers loans up to $1,300 without collateral.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur Supawoman product is about that underprivileged woman who is struggling to grow that business. The roadside seller, the hawkers, the retailers, market vendors,\u201d said Michael JJingo, the Bank\u2019s General Manager for Commercial Services, said after receiving the trophy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf given an opportunity for financial inclusion and financial services accessibility, this woman can do miracles,\u201d JJingo added.<\/p>\n

The AFAWA Bank of the Year award recognizes financial institutions contributing to bridging the $49 billion gender financing gap in Africa, particularly through the AFAWA Guarantee for Growth facility. AFAWA, with its Guarantee for Growth facility as its cornerstone, seeks to unlock $5 billion in access to finance for 30,000 women-owned and led businesses through financial institutions.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor the second consecutive year, the AFAWA Bank of the Year Award honor goes to the bank that has impactfully incorporated the development and growth of women-led small and medium enterprises as part of [its small and medium enterprise] strategy\u201d, said Dr. Beth Dunford, African Development Bank\u2019s Vice President for Agriculture, Human and Social Development.<\/p>\n

When announcing the AFAWA Bank of the Year award, Dr. Dunford also said aside from Centenary Rural and Development Bank\u2019s \u201cCente SupaWoman\u201d financial services tailored to the needs of women entrepreneurs, the Bank had also experienced a 23 percent growth in women-owned and led businesses in its portfolios from 2020 to 2023. Centenary Rural and Development Bank joined the AFAWA Guarantee for Growth program as a partner financial institution at the program\u2019s onset.<\/p>\n

AFAWA is supported by various development partners including the G7 countries (France, Canada, Italy, Germany and the European Commission), the Netherlands, Sweden, and the Women Entrepreneurship Finance Initiative (We-Fi) of the World Bank Group.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The awards ceremony is organised by African Banker magazine with the African Development Bank as its High Patron. The African Banker Awards are part of the African Development Bank Annual Meetings official program, which this year is held under the theme: \u201cAfrica\u2019s Transformation, the African Development Bank Group and the Reform of the Global Financial Architecture.\u201d<\/p>\n

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of African Development Bank Group (AfDB).<\/p>\n

Media Contact:<\/strong>
\nAlphonso Van Marsh
\nPrincipal Digital Content and Events Officer
media@afdb.org<\/a><\/p>\n

About the African Development Bank Group:<\/strong>
\nThe African Development Bank Group is Africa\u2019s premier development finance institution. It comprises three distinct entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF) and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). On the ground in 41 African countries with an external office in Japan, the Bank contributes to the economic development and the social progress of its 54 regional member states. For more information: www.AfDB.org<\/a><\/p>\n

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A Kampala-based commercial bank with a \u201cmission critical focus\u201d to provide financial services to vulnerable women entrepreneurs has been named the \u201cAFAWA Bank of the Year\u201d at the African Banker… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12187"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12187\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}