Across Africa, some of the most resilient and effective entrepreneurs are displaced women. With forced displacement at an all-time high and economies under pressure to grow inclusively, the case for investing in displaced women has never been more urgent.
There are 44 million forcibly displaced individuals across Africa – a powerful workforce, consumer base, and pool of entrepreneurial talent. Their combined spending power is estimated at US$82 billion – more than Ghana’s entire annual GDP (approximately US$ 76 billion in 2023).
Displaced women entrepreneurs embody resilience and determination. Despite bearing the brunt of displacement crises, they are launching businesses, repaying loans, creating jobs, and fueling local economies – often while navigating legal restrictions, limited mobility, and exclusion from financial systems not built for them. Yet they remain largely invisible to investors and are consistently locked out of capital, formal markets, and national economic plans.
We believe there is an opportunity to move beyond empathy and focus on action by recognizing displaced women not as beneficiaries, but as economic actors building Africa’s future.
This is central to the Mastercard Foundation’s Refugees and Displaced Persons strategy, a contributor to its Young Africa Works strategy , which is built on the belief that displaced young people – especially women – are investable, capable, and ready to lead. As part of this ambition, the Foundation is working to remove systemic barriers to education, employment, and inclusion for 2.5 million displaced youth, 70% of them women. Through our partnership with Inkomoko, we are supporting displaced women entrepreneurs in accessing financial services, building sustainable businesses, and contributing to the local economies of their host countries.
Inkomoko envisions an Africa where young people and forcibly displaced persons drive thriving communities. With entrepreneurship and local solutions at its core, we aim to transform systems and fuel inclusive growth across the continent by creating 825,000 jobs and impacting 8 million lives by 2030. Over 55% of Inkomoko’s clients are women and our data is clear: women are not only more likely to repay loans , but also more likely to reinvest in their families and communities. Across our entire client base – including refugee and displaced entrepreneurs – we have reported a 98% loan repayment rate , significantly above national averages. In Kenya, for example, the average default rate hovers between 10 and 15%, dispelling the myth that RDPs are high-risk borrowers.
In one of Kenya’s largest refugee camps, Kakuma – home to over 250,000 refugees – women-led businesses have grown revenues by 35% since 2021, boosting household spending by 42%. Yet even with this track record, refugee and displaced women face steep barriers to accessing finance. Unfavorable lending practices and gender-based disparities persist, compounded by legal and documentation hurdles.
One Inkomoko participant, Naomi Nyengai, knows this reality intimately. She started selling avocados from a wheelbarrow in Kakuma. Her business grew quickly, but the barriers were constant: no capital, lack of transportation infrastructure, caregiving responsibilities, and persistent price volatility. “Women in business navigate a maze of invisible barriers,” she said.
Naomi took her first $US600 loan from Inkomoko and repaid it in three months. Now she’s aiming to break the one-million-shilling loan ceiling (US$7000). “If I had my own truck, I could bring in goods directly. Remove the collateral limit and see where I will go. I will fly.”
She’s not alone. Hawa Abdurehim Harun, a Sudanese refugee in Ethiopia’s Sherkole camp, started a charcoal business with less than US$1. After joining Inkomoko’s program, she scaled her operations and now earns almost US$900 a month – supporting her family and sending remittances back to Sudan.
These are not charity cases. With Inkomoko’s support – business training, mentorship, and access to capital – Naomi and Hawa used modest capital infusions to generate 10x returns in some of the toughest business environments in the world. They are investable, high-performing entrepreneurs, and their stories reflect a much broader economic opportunity hiding in plain sight.
We have seen the impact of systems change. In Ethiopia, Inkomoko and Dashen Bank partnered to deliver US$1.5 million in loans to displaced clients, many of them women receiving formal credit for the first time. In Kenya, the government’s Shikira Plan is opening space for refugee-owned businesses to operate legally. Experiences like Naomi and Hawa’s are possible, but not yet typical for displaced women entrepreneurs.
We are calling for the following actions:
- Governments expanding implementation of inclusive policies that recognize displaced women’s right to work, register businesses, and access finance – building on promising models like Kenya’s Shirika Plan and Ethiopia’s 2019 Refugee Proclamation.
- Financial institutions rethinking collateral rules by adopting alternative approaches such as character-based lending, group guarantees and leveraging business performance data – practices already showing success through Inkomoko’s partnerships with local banks.
- Funders and implementers shifting from designing for displaced women to co-creating with them – embedding lived experience into solution design, as Inkomoko does by hiring refugee staff and adapting services based on client feedback. Models like MIT D-Lab’s character-based lending, shaped through community trust and input, show what’s possible when systems are built with, not just for, displaced women.
Inclusive growth across the continent starts with young women, including those affected by displacement. They’re not waiting for change; they’re already leading businesses, strengthening communities, and creating impact every day. When we partner with them and invest in their potential, we unlock opportunity not just for individuals, but for entire economies to thrive.
Displaced women are not the risk. They are the return.
Hannah Tsadik is the Country Director, Kenya, for the Mastercard Foundation and Dawit Tilahun is the Ethiopia Country Director of Inkomoko.