The GSM Association (GSMA) has launched a new initiative that focuses on reducing the gender gap in mobile internet and mobile money services, it is the GSMA’s Connected Women Commitment Initiative.
Today, one of the continent’s biggest operator, Millicom, which owns the Tigo companies across the continent said it is joining the GSMA initiative and will also be supporting the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls by 2030.
“Millicom’s pledge to this major initiative is yet another reflection of how the company supports and empowers women throughout Africa. Over the last two years, the company has gone from having a representation of 7% women in its senior management team to 26%. Other notable past initiatives have involved collaborations to support women’s entrepreneurship in Africa by training 4,000 women to work in the mobile financial services industry,” the company said in a statement.
The company added:
Tigo Chad, Senegal, Tanzania and Ghana, and Zantel, have followed the lead of Tigo Rwanda, which became the first African operator to commit to the initiative in February during the Mobile World Congress. As part of the commitment, all operations will work to increase the proportion of their female customers using mobile financial services and Tigo Chad has also committed to increase the proportion of female customers using mobile internet.
This commitment consolidates Millicom’s leadership in advancing digital and financial inclusion for women in Africa and will have a significant impact in accelerating the participation of women in the growing mobile economy across the continent.
Across markets, Tigo and Zantel have been supporting women by providing products, services and tools designed specifically for them. Last month, Zantel in Tanzania committed to supporting the Association of Seaweed Farmers in Zanzibar by providing training to 2,000 women in entrepreneurship and finance management.
In May, as part of its Frw.50 million Tigo Women Entrepreneurship Fund, Tigo Rwanda also trained an inaugural cohort of 70 women on financial business management and customer service. As part of this initiative, graduates from the Tigo sales school were awarded Frw 100,000 each as start-up capital to become Tigo cash agents. The company also launched a research study on consumer insights with the support of GSMA. The findings of this study will be used by Tigo Rwanda to deliver additional products and services dedicated to female customers.
Another example of Tigo’s efforts to empower women has been seen in Tanzania, with the operator giving away 400 mobile phones and delivering training on mobile phone use to resource-poor women in the Kilwa and Rufiji districts.
In Chad, with its savings offering called ‘Tigo Paare’ that was launched in 2015, Tigo supports 200 women’s organizations. These organizations count with more than 12,000 members, 90% of which have subscribed to Tigo Paare. Tigo also delivered training on its mobile money product, ‘Tigo cash’
to hundreds of female entrepreneurs in Biltine, located in the North-East part of the country. This training is vital to help these women manage their businesses better.
Cynthia Gordon, CEO of Millicom’s Africa Division, welcomed the pledge to GSMA’s Connected Women Commitment Initiative: “It is essential for Tigo to increase the participation of women in the growing mobile economy. Joining this initiative reflects our commitment to closing the mobile gender gap and enabling women to experience the benefits of mobile internet and mobile financial services.”
Gordon continued, “We are undertaking specific commitments to connect hundreds of thousands of women, who have never had access to the Internet before, with the incredible life-changing opportunities of online services. This can make measureable differences in their lives and their communities.”
