The Executive Director of Women in Mining Africa (WIM-Africa), Dr. Comfort Asokoro-Ogaji, has encouraged women operating across Africa's mining value chain to leverage the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) MANSA digital platform to formalise their businesses, attract investment, access finance, and expand into regional markets.
She gave the advice during the second edition of WIM-Africa's MANSA Digital Awareness and Capacity Building Webinar, which focused on Know Your Customer (KYC), Customer Due Diligence (CDD), and African Entity Identifier (AEI). The training was organised by WIM-Africa in partnership with Afreximbank's MANSA Digital Initiative and the African Young Entrepreneurs Federation (AfYEF).
Addressing Barriers to Women's Participation in Mining
Asokoro-Ogaji said Africa's abundant mineral resources could provide significant opportunities for women to build sustainable businesses and create jobs, but many were still unable to maximise these opportunities because of limited access to information, finance, networks, and institutional support. The training aimed to equip women with the knowledge required to formalise their businesses and position themselves to benefit from opportunities across the mining value chain.
According to her, women should look beyond mining itself and explore opportunities in areas such as financing, transportation, mineral processing, aggregation, and other support services within the sector. "We need women to be positioned across the value chains to succeed," she said, stressing that understanding the requirements of formal businesses was critical to accessing finance, investors, and wider markets.
Understanding MANSA Platform Requirements
Asokoro-Ogaji explained that information such as beneficial ownership, evidence of business registration, environmental compliance, and sources of funding would be important for businesses seeking to properly position themselves on the MANSA platform. She said improved access to such platforms could help women-owned businesses move from informal operations into structured enterprises capable of attracting investment and participating in cross-border trade.
Making a presentation on KYC, CDD, and AEI, Ugonna Nwankwo of Afreximbank explained that MANSA Centralized Services was developed to provide information on African businesses and enable potential customers and business partners to verify entities operating across the continent. Nwankwo acknowledged concerns that the onboarding process could appear cumbersome because of the amount of information required, but said Afreximbank had introduced different registration levels — Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum — to accommodate businesses at different stages of development.
KYC, CDD, and AEI Explained
Nwankwo explained that KYC enabled businesses and their potential partners to obtain and verify important information before entering into transactions, while CDD provides additional checks to support safer and more transparent business relationships. She added that the AEI gave registered entities unique identification codes that can facilitate cross-border transactions and strengthen their participation in African trade.
Nwankwo urged businesses to begin the registration process regardless of their current level of formalisation, saying greater awareness of the platform would enable more African enterprises to take advantage of available finance and trade opportunities.
AfYEF Supports Women Entrepreneurs
Continental Director for Women in Trade at AfYEF, Mpho Machaka, said women entrepreneurs across Africa continued to face challenges beyond the quality of their products and services, including limited access to mentorship, business information, and institutional support. Machaka said strengthening women's capacity to understand formal market requirements would help them build more competitive enterprises and participate more effectively in the continent's growing trade opportunities.
She urged participants to understand the documentation, business information, and systems required to operate successfully in formal markets. Machaka disclosed that AfYEF had begun engagements with WIM-Africa to support its members in accessing business and trade opportunities across Africa. She said stronger collaboration among women-focused organisations, financial institutions, and business support platforms would be essential to addressing barriers limiting women's participation in the formal economy.
Participants in the webinar included women from Nigeria, Zambia, Kenya, Ghana, and India, alongside male allies under the HeForShe initiative. The webinar is part of WIM-Africa's continuing efforts to build the capacity of women in the mining sector and connect them with platforms that can improve their access to markets, finance, investors, and regional trade opportunities.
