Pre-feasibility Study on Business Opportunities for Women in a Changing Energy Value Chain in West Africa 

This report culminates an effort to identify, evaluate, and evolve recommendations for improving women entrepreneurs across West Africa. It forms part of the ECREEE project — Pre-feasibility Study on Business Opportunities for Women in a Changing Energy Value Chain — funded by the NEPAD-IPPF, a multi-donor Special Fund hosted by the African Development Bank.

The project's mission is to ensure West Africa meets its goal of universal energy access for over 300 million people — by developing a gender-responsive regional energy market strategy that harnesses the entrepreneurial capacity of ECOWAS women to establish energy businesses and deploy energy technologies for the region's largely unserved population. It targets 16 women-led businesses across 4 ECOWAS countries, focusing on underfinanced SMEs, and is a direct product of the ECOWAS Policy for Gender Mainstreaming in Energy Access — targeting 25% women's participation in private sector energy by 2020 and 50% by 2030.

Challenges for women in West Africa span operational complexity, technological expertise, labour, and financial management — compounded by cultural pressures and limited technical know-how. Addressing these urgently is essential for women entrepreneurs to thrive in the evolving energy value chain.

Key Achievements

a) Created the first-ever formal database of women entrepreneurs in the energy value chain across West Africa's four largest economies.

b) Built a comprehensive understanding of women-led businesses across operational, commercial, technological, labour, legal, and financial dimensions.

c) Identified key challenges and developed tactical and strategic solutions to address them.

d) Collected primary field research data to support future women's entrepreneurship policy development.

e) Identified feasibility studies as replicable templates for regional expansion and diversification.

f) Equipped banks and funds with financial and operational profiles of women-led businesses to better design fit-for-purpose products.

g) Provided multilateral agencies and governments a framework for mainstreaming women in the fast-changing energy value chain.

h) Delivered actionable insights to women entrepreneurs on performance, improvements, and new growth opportunities.

i) United women entrepreneurs and ecosystem stakeholders to collaborate and collectively drive business growth.