About Us

Our Driving Force:

Transforming Access to Finance for African Women Entrepreneurs

Who We Are:

We are building an entrepreneurial ecosystem that enables fair and equitable representation and participation of women at all levels, and where African women entrepreneurs can thrive, scale and lead.

We operate on a dual complementary approach, combining advisory support and capital deployment, tackling both sides of the gender financing gap.

Through M-Kyala Ventures, we provide strategic advisory and capacity building to organisations, supporting them to adopt gender strategic approaches and support women entrepreneurs, while through M-Kyala Capital, we provide catalytic early-stage capital directly to women-led enterprises across Africa, helping them access the resources they need to grow.

How We Work

We recognise that systemic change requires working at multiple levels simultaneously. Thus, we work by addressing both sides of this problem: helping organisations build gender-smart strategies while investing directly in the women they're meant to serve.

Our approach addresses these challenges, supporting organisations through gender lens investing. We also work collaboratively, designing tailored solutions to enable equitable access to opportunities and resources for women in entrepreneurship, employment, consumption and value chain participation.

Our founding story

15 Years of Vision

Our 15 years of experience in the finance sector unveiled a stark reality — the underrepresentation of African women entrepreneurs in accessing funding. This discovery, reinforced by the African Development Bank's estimation of a $42 billion funding gap, fuelled our commitment to bridging this divide. After in-depth research and engaging with 60 women across Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, we identified key bottlenecks: high collateral requirements, limited financial product availability, and gender bias.