The Ecobank Group is one of the continent’s leading banking groups operating in 35 countries. In Cameroon where 39% of the country’s 393,166 SMEs are run by women, Ecobank Cameroon is committed to promoting female entrepreneurship digitalisation, accessibility of services and SME financing. With its Elevate programme launched in 2021, at least 1,600 women entrepreneurs, businesses and associations have benefited directly from over $3 million in financial support.
In Cameroon, 39% of the country’s 393,166 SMEs are run by women, but these women entrepreneurs continue to face challenges such as limited access to finance. In response, Ecobank Cameroon launched the Ellevate programme in 2021, and subsequently opened the country’s first banking space for women-owned businesses in March 2024. This landmark initiative, under the leadership of Ms Gwendoline Abunaw, Managing Director of Ecobank Cameroon, has enabled at least 1,600 women entrepreneurs, businesses and associations to benefit directly from over USD3 million in financial support.
“So far for Elevate programming in Cameroon we have on board 1,600 women , we have been able to do multiple trainings for them to upscale their scales and develop more businesses and therefore employ more people, we have been able to give three billion dollars of financial support to them and when we evaluate all of this we would say it has had a positive impact”.
Gwendoline Abunaw, Managing Director of Ecobank Cameroon – Cameroon
Operating in 35 countries and serving millions of customers, the Ecobank Group is also leveraging technology to expand access to finance. Since 2017, Ecobank has been part of a major digitalisation drive and continues to improve its digital offering. A version 4.0 mobile application, powered by the bank, among other initiatives is offering a more robust and intuitive ecosystem to meet the growing needs and changing behaviours of customers.
“We have deployed our mobile app, we have different remittance providers that we deliver across the platform and we have the ecobank pay solution, so many solutions that we have been able to deploy that have improved the foot track or footprint of those who are in our digital ecosystem and able to transact”.
Gwendoline Abunaw, Managing Director of Ecobank Cameroon – Cameroon
Ecobank is a real economic player in Cameroon and across Africa, contributing to the customer experience in many ways. From its commitment to digital transformation, financial inclusion and women’s entrepreneurship, the bank received the prestigious Best Bank of the Year 2019 award from The Banker.
