Impact Dialogues in Africa: Scaling Inclusive Finance for MSMEs

 

Impact investing and fintech innovation are no longer niche they are shaping markets, communities, and Africa’s future of finance. From digital lending platforms to blended finance in frontier economies, the challenge is aligning capital with inclusive growth, especially in Africa, where MSMEs account for up to 90% of employment.

From Fortune 500 Commercial Lending to Microfinance Inspiration

My journey into impact finance began while working as a commercial lender for Fortune 500 companies. I managed complex financial portfolios and large-scale transactions, navigating the rigor and discipline of global capital markets. Yet it was during this period, while pursuing my MBA at Seattle University, that I had the honor of meeting Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus.

Professor Yunus’s pioneering work in Bangladesh showed me a different side of finance where small loans could transform livelihoods, restore dignity, and unlock human potential. His message was simple yet profound: access to finance is not a privilege it is a human right. That encounter became a touchstone for everything I would do next.

Scaling Finance Across Africa

Back in Ethiopia, I witnessed early microfinance successes firsthand, proof that financial inclusion can catalyze entrepreneurship and resilience. Since then, I have carried that spirit into every professional chapter—whether building fintech solutions linking commercial banks to underserved markets, helping establish an international bank, or founding Ethiopia’s Entrepreneurship Development Center.

Through these experiences, I have seen how finance can shift from aid to trade. This transition is not optional—it is Africa’s pathway to sustainable, inclusive growth.

GSG Impact: Catalyzing Africa’s Impact Ecosystem

GSG Impact is catalyzing Africa’s impact investing ecosystem by connecting National Advisory Boards, task forces, and local stakeholders across countries such as Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa, Zambia, Ethiopia, and Senegal. Through strategic partnerships, policy dialogues, and capacity-building initiatives, it mobilizes both domestic and international capital, supports locally led investment vehicles, and strengthens the infrastructure for impact finance—ensuring that investments deliver measurable social and environmental outcomes while driving sustainable economic growth.

Impact Dialogue Ethiopia

This week in Addis Ababa, I joined Impact Dialogue Ethiopia, under the theme: “Aligning Priorities to Accelerate and Scale Up Impact Investment in Ethiopia.”

Organized by ACE Advisors, the Embassy of Japan, UNDP, and other partners, the event marked a turning point in building Ethiopia’s impact ecosystem. It is part of a wider effort led by the Task Force on Impact Investing Ethiopia under GSG Impact, alongside the Inclusive Finance Innovation Lab (IFIL) under UNDP. Together, these institutions are driving momentum to make impact investing central to Ethiopia’s development path.

As part of this ecosystem, UNDP has partnered with the National Bank of Ethiopia to establish the IFIL, which unlocks blended finance opportunities and fosters enabling conditions for sustainable investments. It de-risks private sector participation while signaling that public and private sectors are ready to align for impact.

Walking Africa, Buying Africa

Beyond boardrooms and dialogues, I ground my perspective in travel and practice. From Alexandria to Cape Town, Morocco to Madagascar, with Ethiopia as my hub, I make it a point to buy made-in-Africa products and sit with MSMEs to understand cross-border trade firsthand.

These encounters reveal both the barriers—tariffs, logistics, financing—and the enormous potential of Africa’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. They remind me that Africa’s future of trade and investment is written not only in policy reports or investor memos but in the lived realities of entrepreneurs navigating fragmented markets every day.

Toward Africa’s Global Impact

For me, this work on Deldeyoch 2.0, is more than professional, it is a personal mission to level the playing field for Africa as a global player. Over the years, I have contributed to more than 20 projects in Ethiopia & globally engaging in research, building partnerships, navigating difficult negotiations, and pushing for a more inclusive private sector.

Impact dialogues whether in Ethiopia or globally are not just conversations. They are catalysts to align capital with communities, innovation with inclusion, and Africa’s potential with global impact.

Africa’s time is now. Aligning capital with communities, innovation with inclusion, and local potential with global impact is not just work, it is a personal mission that continues to unfold every day across the continent.

By Dutchess@deldeyoch