Women's Entrepreneurship Finance

UNCDF SHIFT announced the four successful proposals of the Challenge Fund Third Window, one of which was SME Finance Forum member, Fern Software, working with TransferTo in receiving the award. TransferTo operates a B2B Cross-Border Mobile Payments Network, linking money transfer operators, digital financial services operators, mobile wallets providers, financial institutions, NGOs and global merchants to facilitate mobile-based money transfers to and from emerging markets - including Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Viet Nam.

Visa has launched the Visa Foundation, which has been established as part of Visa’s larger social impact strategy that will prioritize the growth of micro and small enterprises around the world, enabling individuals, businesses, and economies to thrive. To mark its inception, the Visa Foundation is making its first financial commitment of up to $20 million to Women’s World Banking.

Omokehinde Adebanjo, Mastercard Area Business Head for West Africa, shares why finance to women-owned SMEs is vital to the global supply chain. She says that the Mastercard Index of Women’s Entrepreneurship (MIWE) found that female entrepreneurs in developing countries are driven by resilience, determination and the desire to provide for their families.

IFC provides investment and advice to expand access to finance for millions of individuals and SMEs. They work with a variety of partners — financial institutions as well as governments — to achieve wider impact than we could on our own. In FY17, their clients provided more than $351 billion in SME loans.

In Brazil, they arranged a $275 million financing package for Banco Daycoval to help the bank expand financing for SMEs — with 25 percent of the funds to be allocated specifically to businesses headed by women. Other accomplishments are also included in the report.

IFC worked with key influencers and experts in the world of blockchain, distributed ledgers, and digital finance to create a series of six in-depth research papers examining the potential and perils of blockchain. The report highlights that a number of blockchain-based projects are now coming to life.

World Bank Group president Jim Yong Kim says one of the quickest ways to end poverty is increasing the ranks of female entrepreneurs. He tells Inc. magazine that U.S. should pay attention to the breakthroughs happening in the developing world.

Microfinance is a $92 billion industry, with more than 100 million borrowers in more than 75 countries around the world.

SME Finance Forum member Standard Chartered Bank has launched an Incubation program that seeks to finance women entrepreneurs in the ICT sector. According to reports, the program is a part of a joint partnership with iLab Africa, a division of Strathmore University.

In this article, Entreprenuer reports that despite the tech industry’s progressive reputation, its track record for hiring, promoting and funding women is bleak: Only 17 percent of American startups have female founders. However, halfway across the globe in tech hubs like Lagos, Nigeria, and Nairobi, Kenya, 46 percent of African ventures have a female founder and prospects for closing the gender gap there are high.