Women's Entrepreneurship Finance

Gender lens investing is on the rise, with bold initiatives such as the G7’s 2X Challenge led by development finance institutions (DFIs) which has committed to investing $3 billion in businesses that advance gender equality by December 2020.

On October 8th, during the 2019 Global SME Finance Forum, IFC and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women launched a progress report titled "IFC and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women: Investing in Women's Business Growth". This report demonstrates that WEOF has already exceeded its investment and mobilization goals and has made strong progress towards achieving all of its objectives, helping to close the global credit gap for women SMEs.

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With the growing recognition of women entrepreneurs’ contribution to economic growth, there is need to understand the state of their operations in India. This report, by the IFC, aims to assess the financing gap through a hybrid approach, including both secondary estimation and primary data collection, and identify the key characteristics of women-owned businesses (MSMEs), their need for financial and non-financial services, their uptake of financial products and the barriers to their access.

The first private-sector “gender” bond in the Asia Pacific region to be issued by Bank of Ayudhya (Krungsri), with the support of IFC and the GoldmanSachs 10,000 Women initiative, to expand access to capital for women entrepreneurs globally. IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and DEG (Deutsche Investitions und Entwicklungsgesellschaft) have agreed to subscribe to the Women Entrepreneurs Bonds to be issued by Bank of Ayudhya in the amount of up to $220 million.

According to a World Bank report “Profiting from Parity : Unlocking the Potential of Women's Business in Africa,” launched last March, women entrepreneurs make or are obliged to make different decisions than men because of gender-specific constraints. As a result, the report notes that, on average, women-owned firms post profits that are 34 % lower than male-owned firms and have fewer employees and lower sales.

IDB Invest, a member of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) Group, and Banistmo, a subsidiary of the Bancolombia Group, announce the issuance of the first social gender bond in Latin America, totaling $50 million with a five-year term. Banistmo issues the bond and IDB Invest structures it and buys 100 percent of it.

This year, the Group of Seven (G7) outlined an agenda to fight inequality. As part of this agenda, the G7 Partnership for Women’s Digital Financial Inclusion in Africa will support African governments, central banks, and financial institutions in their efforts to build more inclusive, sustainable, and responsible digital financial systems, ensuring that 400 million more African adults are financially included—nearly 60 percent of whom are women. Essential to efforts to expand digital financial inclusion to women

S’exprimant lors d’une conférence organisée conjointement par la CGEM et la SFI, membre du Groupe de la Banque mondiale, Qadiri a souligné que l’égalité des sexes contribuera à réduire les disparités hommes-femmes qui existent actuellement et à promouvoir la croissance de l’économie marocaine. Il a, de même, fait observer qu’il a été démontré que la participation des femmes au marché du travail et à des activités rémunératrices a un impact positif certain sur la société dans son ensemble en termes de développement humain et des droits des femmes.