Women Innovation Investment Facility: a step towards the empowerment of women

The WIIF grant program is “an initiative of the Ministry of Economy, Planning and Cooperation (MEPC) of Senegal, funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), designed and implemented by ACT Afrique Group in collaboration with Pathfinder International.
The WIIF grant is targeted at innovative, high-impact, women-led startups and SMEs. The grant aims to strengthen their growth and resilience.

ACT Afrique Group, in charge of coordinating the project, received more than 700 applications following the wide dissemination of the WIIF funding program to the Senegalese public.
The first edition of the funding program allowed to mobilize a budget of 400,000 dollars (USD) in order to give a boost to these structures led by women, and at the same time, to help them in their development, allowing them to position themselves as ambitious and viable structures, in the Senegalese economic fabric.

Thus, an investment committee composed of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and its partners, following a long selection process, was able to retain 22 beneficiaries spread across the regions of Dakar, Kaolack, Tambacounda and Ziguinchor.

Structures operating in sectors such as:

     – Insurance ;
     – Catering and events;
     – Health ;
     – Recycling and waste recovery;
     – Education and technology;
     – Animal health program;
     – Artisanal salt production;
     – Processing and marketing of local food products;
     – Construction and rehabilitation of wells in rural areas.

In implementing the funding program, a series of activities were coordinated by ACT Afrique Group, including field visits in November to various grant recipients in the regions of Dakar, Thies and Kaolack,
Tambacounda and Ziguinchor. Then, the organization of a ceremony to hand over checks to the beneficiaries marking the launch of the WIIF program in Dakar, in the presence of high Senegalese authorities and other institutions partners to the project.

ACT AFRICA TEAM MEETS WIIF GRANT BENEFICIARIES

The visits to the beneficiaries of the WIIF funding program started in November. This was an opportunity for the ACT Afrique Group coordination team to go and meet the 22 beneficiaries of the program in the regions of Dakar, Thiès, Kaolack, Tambacounda and Ziguinchor.
The objective was to make a field visit and establish a baseline analysis of the projects of the program’s beneficiaries.
The program was warmly welcomed by all the beneficiaries who congratulated this initiative to support women by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and its partners. The program is seen as flexible and accessible funding that will have a significant impact in the development of their activities.