The African Development Bank (AfDB) launched an initiative officially on Monday to bridge the 42-billion-U.S.-dollar financing gap facing women entrepreneurs in Africa.

The initiative, dubbed Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA), was jointly launched by the AfDB and African Guarantee Fund to cover the potential losses of African financial institutions lending money to women entrepreneurs, said AfDB President Akinwumi Adesina at the 4th Global Gender Summit in Kigali.

This risk-sharing project will encourage financial institutions to lend to women-led businesses and reduce burdensome collateral requirement, said Adesina.

The AFAWA will leverage G7 donor resources to generate up to three billion dollars' new lending to women entrepreneurs across Africa over the next five years, he added.

"The government of Rwanda fully supports this initiative and is ready to work with the AfDB to make AFAWA a success," said Uzziel Ndagijimana, Rwanda's minister of finance and economic planning.

Rwanda is committed to contributing one million dollars in support of AFAWA, he said.