Addis Ababa, July 11, 2026 (FMC) — Governor of the National Bank of Ethiopia (NBE) Eyob Tekalign (PhD) has urged the country’s financial sector to expand women’s access to finance and leadership opportunities.
He emphasized that advancing women’s inclusion is critical to building an inclusive, innovative, and resilient economy.
The Governor made the remarks as the NBE launched the second edition of the Women’s Financial Inclusion Scorecard and celebrated the graduation of 1,000 participants from the NEWFin Young Professionals Program, which aims to develop a strong pipeline of future leaders in the financial sector.
Eyob stressed the need for financial institutions to strengthen efforts aimed at increasing women’s participation in the sector, both as users of financial services and as leaders and professionals contributing to decision-making and innovation.
The Women’s Financial Inclusion Scorecard is a policy monitoring and benchmarking tool designed to assess financial institutions’ performance in three key areas: women’s representation in leadership and the workforce, women’s access to and use of financial products, and financial innovation tailored to women’s needs.
The scorecard enables institutions to measure progress, share experiences through peer learning, and take evidence-based actions to improve women’s financial inclusion, according to the NBE.
The second edition of the scorecard covers all 32 banks operating in Ethiopia and provides the first year-on-year assessment of progress. Its findings show broad-based improvement, with nearly two-thirds of participating institutions recording better performance.
At the same time, the assessment indicates that gender gaps remain, highlighting the need for continued measures to expand women’s access to financial services, strengthen leadership opportunities, and ensure their full participation in the formal economy.
The NBE also marked the graduation of 1,000 participants from the NEWFin Young Professionals Program, reaffirming its commitment to nurturing women professionals and building a stronger leadership pipeline across Ethiopia’s financial sector.