Address by AUC Deputy Chairperson at 2nd Egumeni Dialogue

Your Excellencies, Honourable Ministers Botswana, Ghana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Seychelles, whom I thank for their important and inspiring solidarity messages

Distinguished Ambassadors and Representatives of Member States,

Representatives of our development partners, financial institutions, the private sector and civil society,

Colleagues from the Commission

Esteemed PAWO leadership

Dear sisters Entrepreneurs and Leaders,

Ladies and Gentlemen, all protocoles duly observed

At the outset, I would like to start by acknowledging the leadership of the Chairperson of the African Union Commission, His Excellency Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, and thank him for his message and his continued commitment to advancing gender equality and women's economic empowerment across our continent.

It is indeed a pleasure to also welcome you all to the second Egumeni Dialogue, dedicated to a question that goes to the heart of Africa's future: the financial and economic inclusion of women. A topic that is particularly important for me.

Almost every aspect of this theme has been covered, all questions asked and hopes/ expectations and prayers expressed this morning.

One could then fear to be redundant. But we can never be redundant for such an important topic!

So let me begin with a simple observation.

Africa cannot achieve its economic ambitions while so many African women remain excluded from the opportunities that make growth possible.

----------

Across our continent, women are already contributing to economic growth. They produce, trade, innovate, create businesses and jobs and sustain communities.

The question cannot reasonably be whether African women have the capacity to contribute to our continent's transformation. The question is whether our economies are giving them the means to realise their full potential. And that is a question we have both the responsibility and the opportunity to address.

Excellencies,

Our ambition, as articulated in Agenda 2063, is to build an integrated, prosperous and resilient Africa, driven by its own people.

Achieving that ambition requires us to recognise a fundamental reality: women's economic empowerment is not simply a matter of social justice, important as that is.

It is also a matter of economic policy.

Consider a woman entrepreneur who has built a successful small business.

She knows her market. She has customers. She has the ambition to expand, employ more people and reach new markets.

Yet she cannot secure the financing she needs because she lacks conventional collateral.

Or consider a woman trading across borders, whose business could benefit from the opportunities created by the African Continental Free Trade Area, but who continues to face obstacles in accessing finance, information and formal markets.

These are not failures of entrepreneurship.

They are barriers within the economic environment in which entrepreneurship must operate.

--------

Removing these barriers is therefore not an act of generosity.

It is an investment in productivity, competitiveness and Africa's collective resilience.

And resilience must mean more than the ability to withstand crises.

It must also mean the ability to create opportunities, protect economic gains and enable more people to participate in shaping our future.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Africa has not been short of ambition or commitment in advancing gender equality and women's economic empowerment.

The Maputo Protocol, Agenda 2063 and the African Union's continental frameworks have established a strong foundation for action.

The African Women's Decade on Financial and Economic Inclusion, together with the Women and Youth Financial and Economic Inclusion 2030 Initiative, reflects our determination to translate these commitments into practical progress.

But we must recognise that adopting a policy and changing an economic reality are not the same thing.

--------

Our challenge today is to bridge that distance.

This requires us to look beyond individual programmes and examine the institutions and systems that determine women's economic opportunities.

It means ensuring that financial services respond to the realities of women entrepreneurs, including those in rural communities and the informal economy.

It means addressing legal and structural obstacles to accessing land, property and productive assets.

It means expanding digital opportunities without allowing the digital divide to become another form of economic exclusion.

And it means ensuring that women can benefit fully from the opportunities offered by regional integration and continental trade.

None of these objectives can be achieved by ministries responsible for gender equality acting alone.

They require the engagement of ministries of finance, trade and economic development, as well as regulators, financial institutions and the private sector.

Women's economic inclusion must become a shared responsibility across our economic institutions, not a separate agenda pursued at their margins. That is the shift we must encourage.

Excellencies,

As explained by our Director Women, Gender and Youth Copano, the name eGumeni, drawn from siSwati, evokes a place where people gather, exchange views and seek common understanding.

It is a fitting name for this Dialogue.

Across Africa, this tradition takes different names and forms. In my beloved Algeria, Tajmaât has long served as a place of collective deliberation. Elsewhere on our continent, people gather beneath the palaver tree, where dialogue helps shape decisions that concern the community.Baraza….

Different traditions, yet a shared African understanding: that lasting progress begins with listening, grows through dialogue, and takes meaning through collective action.

It is in this spirit that we gather today. But the true value of our Dialogue will ultimately be measured not by the conversations we hold, but by the changes they inspire.

We have an opportunity here to move from exchanging experiences to identifying approaches that can be implemented, adapted and expanded across our continent.

I would therefore encourage our discussions to focus on three practical outcomes.

First, identifying reforms that can remove persistent barriers to women's access to finance, markets and productive opportunities.

Second, strengthening partnerships that can mobilise resources and bring successful initiatives to scale, particularly for women entrepreneurs who remain underserved.

And third, agreeing on ways to measure progress, not only through programmes launched or resources committed, but through changes in women's access to finance, business growth, employment and economic opportunities.

The Women and Youth Financial and Economic Inclusion 2030 Initiative, including its Acceleration Plan, provides an important framework through which such efforts can be advanced.

I particularly encourage our Member States and partners to use this Dialogue to identify practical opportunities for cooperation and implementation.

I also wish to acknowledge all our development partners and thank them for their messages this morning. To Ms Myriam Buka Hassan we heard you and we thank you. A special acknowledgement and appreciation to the Women, Gender and Youth Directorate for their work and contributions, in general, and to this important initiative, in particular.

Above all, we must ensure that women entrepreneurs and women's organisations remain central to these discussions.

Policies intended to expand women's opportunities must be informed by the women who understand those opportunities and obstacles firsthand.

Your Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Africa's resilience will not be measured solely by the strength of its institutions or the growth of its economies.

It will also be measured by the opportunities available to its people.

By the ability of a woman entrepreneur to transform a promising business into a sustainable enterprise.

By the ability of a young woman to access the financial tools, skills and markets she needs to succeed.

And by the ability of our economies to draw upon the talent, initiative and determination of all Africans.

This is not an ambition that governments, international or regional intergovernmental organisations, financial institutions or development partners can achieve independently.

It is a responsibility we share, we co-share.

As we begin this second Egumeni Dialogue, let us therefore be guided by a simple measure of success:

Not how much we have said about women's economic inclusion, but how much has changed because we acted.

------

With that conviction, I have the pleasure to declare the Second Egumeni Dialogue officially open.

I thank you.