EBRD Women in Business: WB EBRD Women in Business: WB - Women in Business WB (EBRD) The EBRD has developed a proposal for a regional program for the Western Balkans in support of Women in Business (WiB). There will be a creditline from EBRD amounting to 30 million EUR and a grant component of EUR 7.6 million for training and capacity development etc. In January 2014, the EBRD asked Sida for a contribution amounting to 3.5 million EUR.

Distribution:
No country allocations in advance.
 
According to Sida's assessment, the project proposal is relevant in relation to the new regional strategy for the Western Balkans. It also represents a complement to an existing Sida-supported project (Women Entrepreneurship with RCC as coordinator), which focuses on the same issues, but mainly aims at changing policies, guidelines and attitudes of decision makers. 
 
The EBRD project is aimed directly at women entrepreneurs (training, mentoring, coaching ) and at 7-10 local banks in order to facilitate the granting of credit to women, who own and operate businesses. It is expected that a similar WiB project for countries of the Eastern Partnership will also be implemented by EBRD with Swedish support. EBRD har utarbetat ett förslag till regionalt program för Västra Balkan  till stöd för kvinnors företagande, Women in Business (WiB). För att genomföra insatsen behövs en kredit från EBRD på 30 milj EUR samt gåvobistånd på sammanlagt 7,6 milj EUR för kompetenshöjande insatser mm. EBRD ansökte i januari 2014 om stöd på 3,5 milj EUR från Sida.
 
Enligt Sidas bedömning är insatsen relevant i relation till den nyligen beslutade regionala strategin för Västra Balkan. Den utgör också ett komplement till ett pågående Sida-stött projekt (Women Entrepreneurship med Regional Cooperation Council som samordnare), som är inriktat på samma problemområde, men i huvudsak arbetar för att förändra politik, riktlinjer och attityder hos beslutsfattare. 
 
EBRD-projektet riktar sig direkt till kvinnliga företagare (utbildning, mentoring, coaching) och till delar av banksystemet i syfte att underlätta kreditgivning till kvinnor som äger och driver företag. Senare i år förväntas EBRD komma med förslag till Sida avs ett liknande WiB-projekt för länderna i Östra Partnerskapet. The overall objective of the Women in Business (WiB) programme is to promote women's entrepreneurship and more broadly women's participation in business, by supporting women-led SMEs to access finance, know-how and non-financial business development services. The programme seeks to demonstrate that, when market failures are addressed, obstacles are removed, and women-led SMEs are given equal opportunities. They can then contribute to growth, job creation, and social progress for a free, market-oriented, and democratic society. 

During the second phase (2019-2023), the programme aims at: 

1. Increasing access to finance for women-led small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), including for first time/start-up borrowers and borrowers based outside of main urban centers.

2. Contributing to a diversified and deepened financial system through increased capacity of partner financial institutions (PFIs) to serve the women entrepreneur segment.