Ecobank Targets $2.6bn Loan Book for Women Businesses and Agricultural SMEs by 2030
By Aboki Forex —
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated plans to build a $2.6 billion loan portfolio for women-owned businesses and agricultural small and medium-sized enterprises by 2030. The Lome-based banking group said the target covers two segments facing significant financing shortages across Africa.
The plan splits into $2 billion for women-owned and women-led businesses and $600 million for agricultural SMEs. These are portfolio targets to be reached by 2030, not an immediate, one-off disbursement.
What Ellever will do
Under its women-focused programme, Ellever, Ecobank wants its loan book for women entrepreneurs to reach $2 billion. The bank said it has already supported more than 110,000 women-led businesses and now aims to reach 400,000 SMEs.
It also intends to provide banking services and training to nearly one million women micro-entrepreneurs, with particular attention to digital skills. Financing will cover sectors including agribusiness, healthcare and education, reaching businesses that provide essential goods and services.
Ecobank plans to use guarantees from development finance institutions to reduce the risks tied to SME lending. The arrangement is meant to let the bank extend credit while managing its exposure to borrowers.
Agriculture beyond seasonal loans
The agricultural arm targets $600 million in outstanding loans to SMEs operating throughout the food and farming economy. Ecobank said its approach would go beyond seasonal farm financing to producers, aggregators, processors, logistics operators, traders and exporters.
Group chief executive Jeremy Awori said the strategy was designed to support the transformation of African agriculture, with priorities including climate-resilient farming, digital rural payments and trade finance.
The bank will also use its continental network and payment infrastructure to support regional agricultural markets and transactions between businesses. Its digital trade platform connects more than 60,000 businesses, a channel Ecobank says can support participation in intra-African commerce under the African Continental Free Trade Area.
The initiative follows the group's May 2026 commitment to provide $3 billion over three years for intra-African and global trade.
The size of the funding gap
The African Development Bank estimates the financing gap for women-owned and women-led SMEs at $49 billion. Agricultural SMEs face an estimated annual shortfall of $96 billion.
In Nigeria, the Federal Government has backed the National Credit Guarantee Company's GuaranteeHer initiative, a gender-responsive credit guarantee scheme designed to unlock more than N100 billion in financing for women-owned and women-led businesses over the next five years. The scheme is expected to support more than 20,000 women-owned and women-led micro, small and medium enterprises and create or sustain over 150,000 direct and indirect jobs.
What it means for Nigerian borrowers
For Nigerian women running SMEs and agribusinesses, the guarantee-backed structure matters as much as the headline figure. If the targets are met, more credit would reach traders, processors and logistics operators who currently borrow little from banks because they cannot meet collateral demands.