This is a sponsored piece by AMAKA.
Women in Africa are not only the mothers, souls and teachers of the continent, they also possess a unique disposition and creative flair for entrepreneurship. Figures show that Sub-Saharan Africa not only has the highest rate of entrepreneurs in the world, it is also the only region where the majority of those entrepreneurs are women. However, there are distinct differences in the way male and female entrepreneurs are treated in Africa, often leaving women at a disadvantage.
As a result, most female organisations remain stuck at the micro level due to a range of factors from a lack of capital investment, knowledge and training to the gender pay gap.
This is where Oakwood Green Africa comes in. The company, founded in 2017 by a group of ex-bankers led by managing director Gabriel Edgal, runs four platforms to facilitate business across the continent, under parent company Oakwood Green Africa.
Focussing on Africa is rooted in the fabric of the company, which aspires to be a conduit for capital into and across the continent. As a conduit, it aims to enable Africa-focused international and regional trade as well as provide innovative treasury solutions to public and private organisations.
Oakwood utilises partnerships and synergies across a wide network of change makers and global leaders to change Africa’s narrative for the better. This allows the company to identify nascent needs, and address them directly by harnessing capital flows into and across Africa. Through this it’s able to “bridge the gap in financial advisory as well as champion advocacy for deepening Africa’s trade,” the company said.
One of its core priorities is to catapult African female business owners and young entrepreneurs into success by providing the necessities for local, national and global success. The company plans to do this through a tailored accelerator programme aimed at “micro small and medium enterprises” (MSME). Its MSME initiative will help build the capacity of entrepreneurs, optimise their operations and assist them in securing the funding they need to grow their business.
Women are the “heartbeat” of SMEs (small medium sized firms), but they struggle to “package” their business in a way that is bankable, Edgal, Oakwood’s managing director tells me.
By helping female-led organisations through a catered training plan that assists them with their strategies, financial planning and leadership training, Oakwood’s initiative will fill the gap between male-led companies and women-run businesses.
The company says its accelerator programme, which will be supported by its four platforms, will pilot in Ghana and Gambia by the end of 2021, with hopes of future expansion across Africa.
Oakwood Green Africa’s four platforms
Through its Oakwood Green Capital division, the company provides capital and financial advice to a range of businesses—assisting with financial models, capital raising, mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructuring, trade advisory and more.
While under its Oakwood Knowledge Academy imprint, it offers specialised professional training to help employees gain knowledge. This includes helping women compete in the business world and empowering them to tackle leadership roles.
“One of the problems we have in Africa is good leadership,” Edgal says. “We believe women are a very potent force and if we can expose them to some of the principles [leadership] then Africa is better for it.
”Oakwood, which works with several institutions, including governments, central banks, financial organisations and corporate and private companies, also focuses on technology.
Its tech arm, Digits and Data Ltd, provides technological solutions for companies by leveraging technology to solve challenges such as logistics and production to help grow businesses.
It also strives for financial inclusion, providing banking services and access to finance to multiple organisations across several countries including, Ghana, Gambia, Liberia and Sierra Leone, through a partnership with Bloom Bank Africa Ltd.
Female entrepreneurship in Africa
According to a 2019 World Bank report – Profiting from Parity, women in Sub-Saharan Africa were not only more likely than men to be in the labour force when compared to other regions, but almost 50% of women in non-agricultural work were entrepreneurs.
Supporting women businesses is also essential for economic prosperity on the continent. A McKinsey research found that advancing women’s equality could add $12trn (£8.6trn) to the global gross domestic product (GDP) by 2025. GDP is a key measure which provides a comprehensive overview of countries and global economic health.
Despite these figures, female entrepreneurs are still held back and are given less opportunities than men, especially in developing nations.
This has led to an increased rate of women working in less secure, informal sectors or in traditionally female industries. For context, this means 63% of women in Africa’s non-agricultural labour force are self-employed in the informal sector.
There is also a misconception about gender-lens investing, with the false narrative that women-owned businesses can’t deliver attractive returns to investors. This is particularly so in Africa, where women are expected to fit in a box of societal norms and expectations.
As such Oakwood hopes its solutions make a long-lasting impact on female businesses across the continent and on the international stage. “We can be part of Africa’s problems or be part of the solution. We choose to be the solution,” Edgal adds.
Impact of Covid-19 and what the future holds
The coronavirus pandemic has thrown several economies into a deep recession. It has single handedly tipped the balance sheets of global companies and changed the way we work.
Oakwood says it felt a “dual-impact” on its business as a result of the pandemic. The company has experienced severe delays in transactions it was working on pre-pandemic. While, at the same time, demand for its services has soared as stakeholders try to address the onslaught of challenges created by the crisis.
Looking ahead, Oakwood, which currently operates in four West African countries, wants to expand across ten other West African nations in the short to medium term and eventually have a presence across at least half of the African continent.
“There are many Africans who have been exposed to the skills and knowledge required to transform the continent, but they leave it to outsiders to solve the challenges,” Edgal adds. “Every single one of us has a responsibility and capacity to do anything we can to transform Africa.”