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Financing for Small Businesses and Women Entrepreneurs Financing for Small Businesses and Women EntrepreneursLimited access to financial services disproportionately impacts women and rural populations, restricting economic growth in emerging markets.
 Many developing countries face a considerable credit gap that prevents women-owned small businesses and entrepreneurs from reaching their full potential. By enabling individuals to start and grow businesses, financial services increase revenues and incomes, create jobs, and help communities grow. They also help farmers grow more food, families buy homes, and individuals access sanitation, healthcare, and education.

DFC is committed to supporting projects that help small businesses, women entrepreneurs, and other underserved groups access loans that support their businesses, families, and communities.

Through the **2X Women’s Initiative**, DFC has catalyzed more than $13.5 billion of private sector investment in projects that economically empower women in developing countries—often by expanding access to financing for women entrepreneurs.

DFC's investments are helping advance **DFI collaboration on infrastructure development** to bolster private sector investment in shared priority sectors including climate, health, gender equality, and digital connectivity.
 Investment Stories
      
      Raising capital for low-income housing in West Africa
    Supporting SME growth in the West Bank
    Expanding business opportunities in Bosnia and Herzegovina
    Supporting the world’s smallest farmers
    Mobilizing capital for Ukrainian businesses
    Fueling equitable transportation and entrepreneurship in South Africa
    Helping Honduran small businesses preserve jobs and recover from COVID economic disruptions
    Advancing access to affordable housing finance for women in India
    A new model for investing in women
    Leveraging technology to improve access to capital for small businesses in Africa and Asia
    Supporting refugees and host populations in Jordan and Lebanon
    Helping off-grid energy providers weather pandemic-related disruptions
    Helping small businesses in Liberia access long-term lending
    Supporting Jordan’s economic recovery from COVID-19
    Helping Mexico’s small businesses weather the pandemic
    Supporting small business growth in Guatemala
    Helping women-owned businesses in East Africa weather the disruptions of COVID-19
    Helping a growing population of refugees access critical financial services
    Supporting a female entrepreneur in Mongolia
    Supporting loans to female borrowers
    Expanding women’s access to affordable mortgages in India
    Helping health clinics and medical equipment manufacturers in Africa respond to COVID-19
    Empowering Uganda’s subsistence farmers
    Increasing food supply and building resistance in Burkina Faso
    Advancing sustainable fishing in the Philippines
    Helping low-income students in India continue their education during COVID-19
    Providing critical services to women in Latin America
    Helping a small food producer in Botswana expand production Housing units financed by CRRH
A DFC Euro-denominated loan guaranty supported a cross-border bond transaction to generate funds for mortgage lending to low- and middle-income families and individuals in Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Senegal, and Togo.
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    Man overlooking West Bank landscape
A guaranty to the Middle East Investment Initiative (MEII) has supported loans totaling approximately $400 million to almost 2,400 small and medium enterprises (SME) in the Middle East and North Africa since 2008. MEII Loan Guaranty Facilities were designed to stimulate lending to SMEs with flexible terms and incentivize financial institutions to assume more credit risk. DFC’s support enables MEII to guaranty up to 75 percent of these SME loans.
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    Nighttime shot of Sarajevo
A DFC loan portfolio guaranty of up to $23.3 million is helping ProCredit Bank expand lending to diaspora-linked start-ups and small and medium enterprises in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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    Supporting the world’s smallest farmers
DFC financing is helping One Acre Fund support smallholder farmers in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Tanzania, many of whom live in difficult-to-reach remote areas. One Acre employs more than 8,000 local workers to provide seed and fertilizer on credit, together with training on best practices for growing and storing food.
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    Ukrainian woman hardhat
DFC, in collaboration with the USAID mission in Ukraine, is providing a $15 million loan portfolio guaranty to Bank Lviv—a major commercial bank in Western Ukraine—to deliver immediate support to Ukrainian small businesses, including women-owned businesses and smallholder farmers. DFC guaranteed loans will help small businesses remain open, providing employment, maintaining trade linkages, and supporting the economy.
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    SA Taxi minibuses undergoing maintenance
DFC loans are helping SA Taxi Impact Fund expand lending to black-owned and -led SMEs that operate minibus taxis across South Africa. These small buses provide affordable door-to-door transportation along fixed routes. SA Taxi’s business model integrates services such as repairs and refurbishments, insurance, and data analytics to help bolster the success of its borrowers.
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    Woman loan recipient
DFC financing to the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI)—a regional multilateral development bank—is supporting on-lending to MSMEs in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador to help them recover from the economic disruptions of the pandemic by providing them with working capital, capital financing, and startup loans.
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    Indian woman standing in the doorway of a home
DFC financing to ManiBhavnam Home Finance India Private Limited (ManiBhavnam) is helping support mortgage and home equity loans to low-income borrowers in cities across northern and central India, with 100% of the loans to be provided to women borrowers, co-borrowers, or guarantors.
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    woman in red and orange outfit smiling
A DFC loan of $10 million provided first loss capital to the Impact Investment Exchange Women’s Catalyst Fund to help launch Women’s Livelihood BondTM 5: the world’s first Orange Bond.
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    Woman smiling and holding basket
A loan to Lendable Inc. is supporting the creation of the Lendable Fintech Credit Fund I, which will provide loans to fin-tech companies across Africa and Asia. These fin-tech companies will use innovative technologies such as digital banks and mobile investment accounts to provide credit, working capital, remittances, and payment solutions to underserved customers and MSMEs in target countries.
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    Woman smiling in store
A DFC loan to the Near East Foundation (NEF) UK is supporting the creation of a Development Impact Bond (DIB), an innovative form of financing which is repaid by donors seeking specific measurable social impacts. The DIB—DFC’s first development impact bond focused on refugees—will finance a training and grant program to help refugees and vulnerable Jordanians, primarily women and youth, launch microenterprises as a sustainable source of household income.
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    Customers using solar systems in a shop
DFC financing is supporting the Energy Access Relief Fund, which is providing low-cost loans to viable off-grid energy providers that serve low-income communities across 50 countries in Africa and Asia but are facing liquidity challenges due to COVID. Energy Access Relief Fund is a collaboration of development institutions, donors, and impact investors including the Dutch development agency FMO, the U.K. development agency CDC Group, as well as the World Bank, the International Finance Corporation, Rockefeller Foundation, and Shell Foundation. The fund plans to deploy up to $100 million of financing to small and medium businesses providing a variety of off-grid energy solutions including solar home systems, clean cookstoves, and solar-powered irrigation.
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    Women members of the International Bank of Liberia's senior management team
DFC financing is helping Liberia’s oldest bank, International Bank of Liberia Ltd., increase lending to its growing base of SME clients. DFC’s commitment of $20 million in financing extends an existing partnership with the bank, which previously used $20 million in financing from DFC’s predecessor, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, to provide loans ranging from $500,000 to $3 million with tenors of up to three years to a group of SME borrowers in key industries including food value chains, logistics, and manufacturing.
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    A smiling female Vitas Jordan client
DFC has committed a $50 million loan portfolio guaranty to help Vitas Jordan, a Jordanian microfinance institution, expand its lending to “missing middle” small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), businesses in need of financing too large for microfinance loans yet often considered too small or risky for commercial lenders.
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    car mechanic smiling in shop
DFC has committed $100 million of financing to help Mexico’s Credito Real expand SME lending with a focus on lending to women-owned SMEs. Credito Real, which provides small business loans, payroll loans, consumer loans, used car loans, and microfinance loans. The DFC financing will enable it to support an additional 300 businesses across a range of sectors from housing construction and transportation to retail, health and services.
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    Guatemalan woman smiling in a store
DFC committed $200 million in financing to Guatemala’s Banco Industrial to expand lending to small and medium enterprises and businesses that are owned by or led by women. The financing has enabled Banco Industrial to support businesses across the country in a range of sectors.
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    Ugandan woman on the street
DFC is providing financing to the SEAF COVID-19 Global Gender Lens Emergency Loan Finance LLC, which is managed by the global private equity impact firm SEAF (Small Enterprise Assistance Funds). The facility is supporting Financial Access Commerce and Trade Services (FACTS), a company that specializes in providing short-term working capital to small and medium-sized businesses, agribusinesses, and emerging entrepreneurs in Kenya and Uganda.
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    woman from Lebanon woodworking
A $20 million loan to Kiva Refugee Investment Fund LLC will support microfinance lending to refugees, internally displaced persons, and impacted host populations in 13 countries.
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    Supporting a female entrepreneur in Mongolia
DFC's $5 million loan is helping Goyol Cashmere, a local producer of wool and cashmere knitwear, construct a new factory and purchase additional equipment in order to expand production. Cashmere is the third largest export in Mongolia, where cashmere goats are well suited for the harsh climate. The country's cashmere industry, which represents 28 percent of the world's cashmere market, provides stable incomes to over 100,000 people across the country. Goyol Cashmere sources 50 percent of its raw cashmere materials from rural herders to produce high-quality knitwear that is exported to bolster Mongolia's economy.
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    Supporting loans to female borrowers
A $10 million loan has helped Kiva Microfunds support almost 100,000 microloans to developing country borrowers across 30 countries. With women comprising more than three quarters of borrowers, the project advances DFC’s 2X Women’s Initiative to support projects that economically empower women.
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    photo, Indian woman standing in front of building and smiling
Local currency financing of 350 million Indian rupee is helping mortgage lender Aviom provide approximately 1,200 home loans to women in India. Aviom, which serves women borrowers in predominately rural areas, provides loans in an average amount of $4,000. Many of the women served by Aviom work in the informal economy, have undocumented income, and would otherwise not be able to access home financing. Affordable mortgages enable women to build homes they could otherwise not afford and establish a credit history.
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    photo, man in pharmacy looking at medication
Financing to Medical Credit Fund is providing loans to clinics in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda, so that they can provide a higher level of care to a greater number of patients.
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    Empowering Uganda’s subsistence farmers
A loan guaranty enabled Edward Munaaba to borrow $10,500 from a local bank in the Jinja district to install solar panels in his nine-acre community farm, introducing electricity to the village for the first time ever. The addition of electricity has supported cold storage, submersible solar pumps for irrigation, and training for farmers in the community.
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    Africa - Burkina Faso
A U.S. Government risk-sharing guaranty in partnership with Ecobank Burkina—one of Africa’s largest banks—covered half of the collateral so that farmers and other entrepreneurs could obtain loans to grow their businesses, increase their earnings, and invest in the long-term stability of their families.
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    photo, fish in baskets
A partial credit guaranty is helping local businesses, such as Meliomar, advance sustainable fishing practices. Meliomar is a seafood processor that sources sustainable fish from environmentally friendly, small-scale fisheries. Meliomar, founded in 2013, is working to educate sellers and consumers about sustainable fishing practices, and to support local livelihoods by promoting fair wages for coastal fishing communities.
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    photo, Indian children in classroom smile with raised hands and waving
DFC financing is helping Varthana support the thousands of small affordable private schools that fill the gap that government schools cannot meet, providing critical loans and online learning plans to help these affordable private schools weather the pandemic and stay in business.
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    photo, woman creating jewelry and smiling
Financing to Global Partnerships supports lending to microenterprises and other organizations in Latin America that are working to expand opportunity for people living in poverty by expanding access to paid work, education, energy, healthcare, housing, sanitation, and clean water. Most of DFC’s financing targets women, who are more likely to work in the informal economy and be vulnerable to poverty.
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    fresh bread on cooling racks
Partnering with USAID, DFC structured a 50 percent loan portfolio credit guarantee with Botswana’s Absa Bank Botswana, which enabled Absa to lend to Arona Natural Foods, a small local bread producer with fewer than 10 employees.
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