The insect-eaten money fluttered in pieces to the floor. For global music star Angelique Kidjo, that image of her grandmother having to use a closet as a bank is driving her desire to see African women leap the many obstacles to obtaining credit — and respect.
The Benin-born singer, one of Africa's iconic artists and a collaborator with Philip Glass and others, is the voice of a new project aimed in part at rewriting laws across the continent that prevent millions of women from becoming a more powerful economic force.
Every time credit is refused to African women, who invest some 90% of what they earn in educating their children and supporting families and communities as opposed to about 40% for men, it's a disaster, Kidjo said. "We're taking up reducing the poverty rate in Africa to the smallest number ever. That's my passion. That's why I'm here."
In some African countries, women can't open a bank account without their husband or father, or inheritance laws leave them with little or nothing. That means no collateral. She was not ready to announce further pledges but said talks are continuing with potential donor countries, including African ones. With the continent's 1.2 billion population expected to double by 2050, the pressure for growth is huge.
The project is also turning accountability on itself, with Kidjo and other ambassadors meant to speak up if they think the project isn't moving quickly or effectively enough. She recalled women in Ghana who resorted to digging a hole in the ground to stash their earnings because they didn't have bank accounts. And during a visit to Benin last month, one woman told her that to obtain a loan of 5,000 CFA she had to show a property deed and hand over 100,000 CFA as collateral.
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