Women entrepreneurs urged to strengthen legal, digital structures to attract global investment - Businessday NG

The African continent is experiencing unprecedented entrepreneurial momentum, yet a significant paradox persists: despite women comprising over 40% of Africa's startup ecosystem, they remain structurally disadvantaged in accessing global investment capital. Recent industry assessments highlight that the bottleneck isn't ambition or innovation—it's the absence of formalized legal frameworks and digital infrastructure that international investors demand before committing capital. For European investors and entrepreneurs operating across African markets, this represents both a critical risk factor and an emerging opportunity. The continent's female-led businesses currently secure less than 2% of venture capital funding despite demonstrating comparable or superior growth metrics to their male counterparts. This underperformance stems largely from institutional deficiencies rather than business viability. **The Infrastructure Challenge** Women entrepreneurs across African markets operate within fragmented regulatory environments. Business registration processes remain cumbersome and inconsistently enforced across jurisdictions. Digital payment systems, while advancing rapidly, still lack standardized compliance frameworks that international institutional investors require for due diligence. Companies cannot easily demonstrate transparent financial histories, tax compliance records, or contractual enforceability—the fundamental prerequisites for cross-border investment. Additionally, property rights protection remains unevenly applied, creating particular vulnerability for female business owners who often lack collateral access or documented asset ownership. European institutional investors typically