By Ivan Ntwali, Country Director at the Mastercard Foundation in Rwanda
Every October 11, the world marks the International Day of the Girl Child, a moment to reflect on the opportunities and challenges facing girls as they grow into young women.
This year, we ask governments, policymakers and private-sector stakeholders to consider the impact those same young women could have as business leaders and entrepreneurs.
Across Rwanda and Africa, young women are creating businesses, driving innovation, and transforming livelihoods. Yet too often, they are doing so without the social and institutional support that enables success. Families and communities have a critical role to play in ensuring that when young women take risks by building businesses – and in turn, generating jobs for others in their communities – they are rewarded by being able to access networks that support financial inclusion, rather than being held back by systems that traditionally exclude them.
Rwanda’s efforts in this space offer both promise and perspective. It has made remarkable strides in advancing financial inclusion and increasing access, with 96 percent of adults reporting access to some form of financial service. Yet research from the Mastercard Foundation reveals persistent gaps in these gains. Only about 22 percent of adults hold formal bank accounts, and just one in four can access formal credit. For young women in particular – as well as young people in rural areas, refugees, and persons with disabilities – access remains constrained by collateral requirements, financial products (such as business loans, savings accounts, or insurance schemes) that do not reflect their realities, and digital divides that limit opportunities.
Access to finance alone is not enough. For women to succeed, that access must be fair, appropriate, and linked to real opportunities. In practice, this means loans and savings options designed around the real situations women face — such as limited collateral and balancing household and business responsibilities — alongside financial literacy, coaching, and access to markets that help their enterprises grow. It also requires reshaping institutional practices so that women, refugees, and persons with disabilities can benefit on equal terms.
When these barriers are addressed, opportunities increase. For example, we’ve seen partners of the Mastercard Foundation achieve success by enabling young women’s access to agricultural value chains. Programs like the Supporting and Enhancing Resilient and Viable Employment (SERVE) have helped hundreds of young women by providing low-interest loans, digital savings tools, and financial products that reflect young women’s realities and help them devise strategies for success.
Consider also the example of Allen Umulisa, Founder of RAI Green Stalks Ltd., who turned her vision for export-ready agribusiness into reality through the Value-Adding Initiative to Boost Employment (VIBE), another partner program supported by the Mastercard Foundation. With access to technical expertise, trade facilitation, and financial networks, Allen built a thriving company that exports avocados, chillis, and French beans to international markets. By partnering with youth-led cooperatives, she is creating jobs and income for smallholder farmers (with a focus on women), while proving that young African entrepreneurs can compete globally.
These efforts point to what is possible, yet real change can only be sustained when systems shaped by families and communities change too. The path to entrepreneurship is less lonely when parents share the burden of care, spouses recognize women’s right to invest and lead, and communities normalize young women owning assets such as land. Women’s entrepreneurship does not just change households – it strengthens communities and contributes to national growth. Research by the McKinsey Global Institute indicates that advancing women’s equality in Africa could add an estimated $316 billion to the continent’s GDP by 2025.
As we commemorate the International Day of the Girl Child, we call on policymakers, financial institutions, civil society, families, communities, and development actors to work together to ensure that young women entrepreneurs are not held back by financial, social, or cultural barriers. We challenge other stakeholders to design finance that works for women, create enabling policies, and build environments that support and nurture young women’s success.
Let’s all commit to ensuring that girls and young women who dare to dream of enterprise and leadership grow into women who have the finance, networks, and supportive systems they need to succeed. In doing so, we will strengthen families, communities, and economies for generations to come.
