From agricultural lands to technology startups, African women are not only building, but they are endlessly reinventing the economy. Even when women are said to be the backbone of the family and the foundation of a nation, they are almost never credited for their victories.
As we mark Pan-African Women’s Day 2025 on July 31, we celebrate the power, resilience, and leadership of African women who are shaping the continent’s future. Women in Africa are not only taking a seat in the economy, but are actively participating in its transformation from a farm field to a tech hub. Despite significant progress, critical barriers such as limited access to education, financial resources, equal opportunities, and inadequate learning environments still hold back many women and girls from reaching their full potential.
African women are increasingly emerging as leaders in agriculture, pioneers in digital innovation, and champions of financial inclusion, driven by several targeted initiatives and broader structural changes across the continent.
“Agriculture, digital public infrastructure (DPI), and financial inclusion aren’t just development priorities, when aligned, they unlock transformative economic opportunity across Africa, especially for women,” said Natalie Africa, Interim Director of Economic Opportunity at the Gates Foundation.
Africa, a leader in the field of women’s economic empowerment, in a conversation with allAfrica’s Melody Chironda, shared how women are increasingly becoming agricultural leaders, pioneers in digital innovation, and champions of financial inclusion. She said that agriculture remains the continent’s largest employer, particularly in rural areas where women make up 66% of the workforce. However, many face systemic barriers and gender norms that limit their access to resources like land, credit, and markets, preventing them from growing their incomes or scaling their impact.
“National systems like digital IDs, mobile payments, and interoperable data platforms make it possible for women to have identification that enables them to access credit, government services, and agricultural inputs directly and securely,” she said.
However, integrating DPI, like digital IDs and mobile payments, with inclusive financial tools can help dismantle these barriers, allowing women to access credit, services, and markets more directly and securely. She said that connecting these systems doesn’t just increase access, it shifts power, enabling women to move from economic participants to leaders.
Women move from being participants in the economy to becoming leaders within it.
The Gates Foundation’s Interim Director of Economic Opportunity cites a Kenyan program supported by the Gates Foundation as an example of how digital public infrastructure, financial inclusion, and agricultural support intersect to drive a measurable impact. The initiative provides women farmers with digital extension services through mobile platforms, offering tailored advice on planting, harvesting, and climate adaptation, which boosts their yields and income.
“In 2024, a microfinance initiative was launched with support from the European Union, the European Investment Bank, the Gates Foundation, and KCB Bank Kenya, with a bold goal: to direct at least 80% of its financing to women. By lowering interest rates, adapting digital services to women’s needs, and removing barriers like lack of collateral or credit history, the program is directly addressing the structural exclusions women face in accessing finance,” she said.
She said such initiatives show how integrated solutions, rooted in digital access, sector knowledge, and financial inclusion, can unlock women’s full economic potential.
Women in agriculture are often viewed as beneficiaries rather than leaders
Women in agriculture are frequently perceived more as beneficiaries of aid and interventions rather than as leaders who shape agricultural policy and practice. This perception is deeply rooted in cultural norms and traditional gender roles that often limit women’s participation in decision-making and access to resources like land, financing, and education.
“African women have always demonstrated agency and leadership, whether in the household, in the community, or at the sovereign level… just look at the history of African women as warriors and queens. However, colonialism and development narratives have often stripped women of their leadership role, which has exacerbated poverty and poor development outcomes,” she said.
She said that the Gates Foundation is “very intentional about positioning women as agents of transformation, not just recipients of support.” This approach, she said, is part of the Foundation’s gender transformative strategy, which aims to elevate women as leaders, innovators, and decision-makers throughout the agricultural value chain.  “This is what we call a gender transformative approach,” said Africa.
In Nigeria, for example, the Foundation is working with women’s producer cooperatives in rice and cassava value chains.
“These cooperatives receive business and digital training, access to markets, and are integrated into local agricultural policies,” said Africa. “Women have always formed and led these groups. They are used to coming together to find solutions. By leveraging these groups and enabling them to have better access to information and finance, they can go even further in influencing decisions and increasing their incomes and standing in the community.”
Africa said that women across the continent are already driving innovation and building resilient systems – what’s missing is the visibility. “Their stories just haven’t been told loudly enough,” she said.
She also gave examples such as Dr. Clare Mukankusi in Uganda, who is developing climate-resilient bean varieties to boost nutrition and income for women farmers, and Josephine Kimonyi in Kenya, who returned to her family’s land, doubled milk production with improved breeds, and turned that income into education for her five children, reinvesting in poultry and growing her farm into a thriving business. “These women, scientists, farmers, and entrepreneurs are leading agricultural transformation in real time,” she said. “Our job is to recognize them, invest in them, and ensure that systems work for them.”
It is critical that women have access to agricultural finance and services through digital public infrastructure (DPI), which includes mobile money systems and digital IDs.
“It’s essential,” she said. “Without a digital ID, a woman farmer might be invisible to formal systems, unable to open a bank account, register her farm, or receive subsidies. She said that without a digital ID, many women farmers are excluded from formal systems and opportunities, such as opening bank accounts or accessing subsidies. The Gates Foundation, she said, is focused on building an inclusive DPI that is designed for women and other more excluded groups.
Africa said that DPI acts as “the connective tissue of the digital economy that enables people to prove who they are, receive money, and securely share information, and when thoughtfully designed, it expands participation, reduces service delivery costs, and creates fairer, more dynamic markets.”
She said that in Tanzania, as an example, the Foundation has supported efforts to digitize agricultural input subsidy programs. “Women receive their entitlements directly through mobile platforms. This reduces leakage, increases transparency, and strengthens women’s agency in how they invest those funds,” said the interim head of Economic Opportunity at the Gates Foundation.
Financial inclusion acts as a catalyst for a larger economic ecosystem by boosting productivity, fostering entrepreneurship, enhancing social equity, and supporting sustainable economic growth beyond just the agricultural sector.
Africa said that financial inclusion is a gateway to broader economic empowerment. “Try and imagine any business or economy thriving without access to capital. It just wouldn’t be possible,” she said.
She said that when women have access to financial tools like savings, credit, and insurance, they are empowered to take productive risks, such as investing in quality seeds or hiring labor. They can also better manage through tough seasons, maintaining household stability and building long-term resilience. In sub-Saharan Africa, where women make up nearly half of the agricultural workforce but face a $42 billion financing gap, access to finance can be transformative.
Drawing on experiences from Uganda, she said that women who save collectively are more likely to invest in their farms, educate their children, and participate actively in household decision-making. When women gain control over financial tools, their economic influence expands beyond agriculture. They’re more likely to start small businesses, contribute to local markets, and invest in healthcare and education.
Digital tools play a transformative role in reshaping rural food systems by enhancing productivity, efficiency, transparency, and connectivity across the entire food value chain. These tools enable farmers to optimize resource use, improve crop yields, and reduce losses.  Digital platforms also connect farmers to wider markets and reliable information, lowering transaction costs and expanding economic opportunities, especially for smallholders in rural areas.
Africa said that digital tools are fundamentally transforming rural food systems across Africa, making them not just more efficient, but more inclusive and resilient. “For smallholder farmers, many of them women, digital access can mean the difference between reacting to climate shocks and planning for them,” she said.
She said that tools like mobile apps and SMS platforms help farmers to receive timely information, such as weather forecasts, input prices, agronomic advice, and market trends, enabling them to make faster, more informed decisions. In Ethiopia, the Gates Foundation has backed the Agricultural Transformation Agency‘s 8028 Farmer Hotline, a free mobile platform offering agronomic advice in local languages, which has helped millions of farmers improve planting and harvesting decisions.
“We have also supported efforts to digitize the input subsidy system, allowing farmers, particularly women, to access e-vouchers for seeds and fertilizers directly, reducing their reliance on informal brokers. These kinds of tools help women negotiate from a position of strength, make timely decisions, and increase their income, key markers of growing economic agency,” she said.
The strongest solutions are those developed by Africans, for Africans. 
Africa said that local organizations understand context, culture, and what drives behavior change. She said that’s why the Gates Foundation prioritizes working with national governments, local NGOs, women’s associations, and agribusinesses to drive lasting change.
“We believe the strongest solutions are those developed by Africans, for Africans. The real engine of progress lies in Africa’s own resources, government leadership, private-sector investment, and local innovation. As African institutions expand their capacity, we’re committed to amplifying those efforts. Through every partnership, our goal is to nurture self-reliance and elevate local solutions, not just to solve challenges at home, but to shape global thinking on sustainable development.”
The Gates Foundation supports a partnership with a local fintech company delivering microloans and agricultural training via mobile platforms in Senegal. “Their local presence ensures trust and usability, two things global solutions often lack,” she said. “Scale happens when local systems own and adapt innovation.”
She said that they look beyond participation to ownership and decision-making. Are women deciding how to use credit? Are they controlling income from their harvest? Are they influencing local policies?
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In Rwanda, she said, the Foundation supported a digital land registration project that ensures women’s names are on land titles, legally securing their right to farm and invest. When women gain secure assets and digital footprints, their bargaining power and economic agency grow. She said that economic agency also means enabling women to pursue their ambitions beyond agriculture, be it starting a business, entering the workforce, or advocating for change. And when this is done in a manner that lifts up the entire household and community, men also see the benefit and buy into such initiatives.
Closing the gaps
While digital systems hold transformative potential for agricultural inclusion, overcoming infrastructural, economic, educational, content-related, and governance challenges through coordinated, context-sensitive and sustainable approaches is critical to fully realize these benefits for rural farmers and the wider economic ecosystem. Africa is making progress in digital innovation, but fundamental infrastructure gaps still threaten to keep its benefits out of reach for millions.
“The digital divide carries real risks, especially for women,” she said. “Globally, 1.4 billion adults remain excluded from formal financial services, and 54% of them are women. Without intentional design, digital systems can reinforce these gaps, limiting women’s access to credit, markets, and opportunity.”
Africa said that without intentional design, digital systems can actually reinforce inequality.
“Women face persistent barriers: less access to mobile phones, limited digital literacy, and lower trust in tech-driven platforms. If unaddressed, digital systems can deepen exclusion,” she said. That’s why the Gates Foundation focuses on a gender-intentional approach from mobile interfaces in local languages to agent networks that reach last-mile users.
She urged governments and development partners to place women at the center of their strategies, especially in agriculture and digital innovation.
“Start with women. When systems are designed for those most excluded, everyone benefits.”
“Start with women, because when systems are designed for those most excluded, everyone benefits,” she said. “That means designing for the real barriers women face: unpaid care burdens, limited mobility, restricted access to capital, and deeply entrenched social norms. It means investing in infrastructure, digital, financial, and social, that connects rather than isolates. And above all, it means trusting and elevating local systems and voices that know what works.”
She said that the Gates Foundation is committed to catalytic partnerships that unlock women’s economic power as a driving force for inclusive growth. “Because when women gain agency, income, and opportunity, the ripple effects lift families, strengthen communities, and power entire economies,” said Africa.
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