Long before Dr. Amany Asfour became one of the most influential voices in Africa’s economic transformation, she was a medical student with an entrepreneurial instinct. Born and raised in Cairo, Asfour trained as a pediatrician but it was her side business, importing and distributing medical equipment, that would lead her into the world of enterprise. What started as a single-company hustle in the 1990s became the launchpad for one of the continent’s most influential movements in business, trade, and women’s economic power.
In 1995, she founded the Egyptian Business Women Association (EBWA) a bold move in a business environment that offered little visibility, support, or capital to women. EBWA wasn’t just another association. It was designed to do what the state, banks, and policy weren’t doing at the time: offer real infrastructure for women-led enterprises. Training, international exposure, trade missions, and access to finance. Her mission wasn’t about closing gender gaps—it was about economic agency, continental competitiveness, and rewriting who gets to lead Africa’s private sector.
Over the years, she scaled her influence far beyond Egypt. She launched the African Alliance for Women Empowerment, now with a presence in over 30 countries. She created the Hatshepsut Women Business Development Center, providing tailored capacity-building and access-to-market solutions across North and East Africa. Through her leadership, regional business women began showing up on global trade missions and sitting at decision-making tables once considered out of reach.
But her impact truly went continental when, in 2021, Dr. Asfour was appointed President of the African Business Council, the official private-sector body of the African Union. At a time when the continent was preparing for the rollout of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), her voice became one of the loudest pushing for implementation beyond policy. She didn’t talk theory; she focused on procurement reform, product certification, and lifting structural barriers that excluded SMEs, especially those run by women and youth.
Dr. Asfour also chairs the COMESA Business Council and leads FEMCOM, the federation that brings together businesswomen’s organizations across 21 countries in the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa. Whether in Kigali, Lusaka, or Addis Ababa, her pitch has remained consistent: Africa cannot compete globally without mobilizing its domestic entrepreneurs. That includes access to capital, the right to scale across borders, and policy reforms that create real equity.
Now in 2025, Dr. Asfour continues to serve as the face of private-sector advocacy at a continental level. She speaks across the globe, advises multilateral partners, and remains actively involved in programs connecting African producers to global markets.
