At the 2025 Financial Alliance for Women Annual Summit, held at the Kigali Convention Centre, Rwanda took a historic leap in redefining women’s financial empowerment with the official launch of the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Code (WE Finance Code). Spearheaded by Rwanda’s First Lady Jeannette Kagame, the initiative signals a new era in data-driven, gender-intentional finance, not only as a moral imperative but as a transformative economic strategy.
“This is not just about women. This is about unleashing the full potential of our economies,” Kagame stated. “We are here to change systems, to rewire how the financial sector views women, not as vulnerable or high-risk but as resilient, bankable and game-changing economic agents.”
The summit, themed “Accelerating Enabling Entrepreneurial Ecosystems,” convened over 400 leaders from global financial institutions, fintechs, regulators and policymakers. Kigali’s selection as host city reflected Rwanda’s growing stature as a model for inclusive development, bolstered by its strong governance and commitment to gender equality.
At the center of the summit was the WE Finance Code Rwanda, a national framework that mandates financial institutions and ecosystem stakeholders to collect and report gender-disaggregated financial data and to design tailored products and services that support women-led micro, small and medium enterprises (WMSMEs).
Unlike past efforts, the Code is enforceable, data-backed and impact-oriented. It addresses systemic barriers that women entrepreneurs face, including lack of collateral, gender bias in credit scoring and limited access to business networks.
The potential impact is significant. Studies show that women entrepreneurs reinvest up to 90% of their income into their families and communities, compared to 30–40% by men. By improving access to finance, Rwanda is not just supporting individual women, it is multiplying social returns in education, health and poverty reduction.
“This Code is more than a gesture. It is a blueprint for systemic reform,” said Soraya Hakuziyaremye, Governor of the National Bank of Rwanda. “It brings together leadership, data, and action to transform how financial institutions serve micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises.”
According to the 2024 FinScope Survey, Rwanda has made impressive strides. Formal financial inclusion rose to 92% from 77% in 2020. Among women, access jumped from 74% to 90%, a result largely driven by digital financial services, particularly mobile money adoption, which surged from 55% to 73% among women.
Still, a 4% gender gap in financial inclusion remains, favoring men. The WE Finance Code aims to close this final stretch by embedding gender-intelligent design into financial systems and holding institutions accountable for measurable outcomes.
With this launch, Rwanda joins over 30 countries implementing the Code as part of a global push to unlock the estimated $1.7 trillion women-owned business market. The initiative reflects a growing consensus that gender equality is not only a human rights issue but a powerful engine of economic resilience and innovation.
Inez Murray, CEO of the Financial Alliance for Women, lauded Rwanda’s leadership: “With the launch of the WE Finance Code in Rwanda, we’re seeing a powerful public-private movement grounded in accountability and innovation. Your unwavering commitment to governance, gender equality, and economic transformation continues to inspire not only your country but the African continent and the world.”
The summit’s action-oriented format included peer learning sessions, policy roundtables and a showcase of Rwanda’s Financial Inclusion Dashboard, offering real-time, disaggregated insights on credit, savings, insurance and payments. These tools are expected to play a critical role in measuring and scaling impact.
As Rwanda sets a new global benchmark, its message is clear: true women’s empowerment starts with access, to finance, to data, to opportunity and thrives when ecosystems are built to sustain it. Through the WE Finance Code, Rwanda is not only closing gender gaps, it is opening the door to shared prosperity.
