Although women own 48 percent of small and medium enterprises in Africa, they face greater constraints than men when expanding their businesses, according to IFC’s Gender Entrepreneurship Markets team. Women entrepreneurs are often held back by a lack of finance and business management skills.
Through the Growth Oriented Women Enterprise (GOWE) program, IFC and the African Development Bank are piloting an initiative in Kenya to help women-owned businesses grow by providing partial guarantees that will allow them to secure loans between $20,000 and $400,000. The program, which started in 2006, also provides women entrepreneurs with customized business management skills training and mentorship support.
The GOWE program plans to help up to 400 women-owned enterprises in Kenya to access credit by 2011, according to IFC Operations Officer Mary Njoroge. The program specifically targets enterprises that are at least two years old and are able to contribute 20 percent of the capital they require to expand.
"We work with formally registered enterprises that are majority owned and managed by women," Njoroge explains. "By focusing on established small and medium enterprises that are looking to expand, we can increase the share of women enterprises that actually make it to middle and large scale."
Eva Muraya is one such entrepreneur. She started Color Creations, a promotional merchandise firm, in 2001 after a fifteen-year career in communications with blue chip firms like British American Tobacco and FedEx in Kenya.
“IFC helped us find a consultant who conducted a diagnostic study of the business and later facilitated our strategic merger with another company, says Muraya. "Through the GOWE program, we have now secured a loan for further expansion."
Today, Color Creations is a medium-sized business with almost 100 employees and an annual turnover exceeding $2 million. The company supplies promotional items including T-shirts, polo shirts, wheel covers, hats and caps, aprons, casual jackets, sports uniforms, bags, and umbrellas to a wide range of clients in the East and Central Africa regions.
Despite her success, Eva feels that women in Africa are generally at a disadvantage when starting and growing a business: "Traditionally women do not own property or assets of any significant value," she says. "So when it comes to borrowing money from formal financial institutions, women entrepreneurs have a harder time because they simply can not raise the necessary collateral."
For more information contact:
Daniel Musiitwa
Communications Officer
Johannesburg, South Africa
Tel: +27 11 731 3175
Email: dmusiitwa@ifc.org
