Background

AICCRA plays a vital role in supporting women-led agribusinesses through its incubation and acceleration programs. Launched in 2022 by AICCRA Senegal, the gender-smart accelerator addresses some of the financial and infrastructural constraints faced by women entrepreneurs in the agri-food sector. This support is critical to empowering women entrepreneurs to drive the transformation of food systems across Africa.

The gender-smart accelerator was implemented with the Women's Investment Club (WIC Senegal). WIC Senegal was created in 2016 to give women privileged access to innovative financial instruments, and to achieve inclusive economic development. Its objectives are to create innovative financial mechanisms for women, promote female leadership and female entrepreneurship, and empower African women to participate fully in the economy, including through WIC Académie, a customized technical assistance and coaching structure perfectly suited to women entrepreneurs. 

Through the Initiative on Diversification in East and Southern Africa, Accelerate for Impact Platform, Rwanda Adaptation Accelerator Programme, many women-led agri-businesses and agritech startups have benefited from acceleration and incubation programs to scale, integrating sustainable practices and facilitating their access to financing. This support is crucial to enable these businesses to grow and play a central role in the transformation of food systems in Africa.     

About the side event

This side event, 'My journey as a CGIAR gender and climate accelerator participant', will enable beneficiaries of the different CGIAR-led accelerator programs to share their experience  with women entrepreneurs in Senegal, discussing the challenges encountered and strategies for overcoming them.

The conversation will provide a platform for inspiring exchanges and professional feedback, bringing together participants of the gender-smart accelerator program and Senegalese women entrepreneurs. It will feature interactive testimonials, followed by a question-and-answer session to explore the themes in depth.

The session will cover the following topics:

• Importance of gender mainstreaming in the agri-food sector
• The role of technical assistance in climate-smart agriculture to improve investment readiness and bankability
• The pivotal role of science and research in business acceleration programs to quantify and demonstrate socio-economic impact
• Need to develop business skills, training and market linkages to facilitate access to finance for women, youth-led enterprises and other stakeholders
• Examination of the challenges faced by SMEs in the accelerator program and the strategies put in place to address them
• Presentation of results and lessons learned 

Note: You must be registered to attend the Women's Investment Forum to join this side event. Register here.
 

Speakers

Moderator: Ena Derenoncourt, Gender-Smart Investment Specialist, AICCRA

Panelists: 

• Hermione Awounou, CEO of ACASEN, Senegal (Finalist of Gender-Smart Accelerator Challenge)
• Florence Okot, founder and proprietor of Yellow Star Produce & Food Processors based in Uganda (Participant of the first edition of the Food Systems Accelerator)
• Florence Mogere, founder and CEO of Nyota Limited, Kenya (Participant of the second edition of the Food Systems Accelerator)
• Doha Zahid, R&D Project Manager at Sand to Green, Morocco (Participant of Agritech4Morroco Innovation Challenge)
• Sheila Uwibona, Founder and CEO of Unbutu Women Farmers, Rwanda (Participant in the Rwanda Adaptation Acceleration Challenge)