IFC and Nigeria's Access Bank Open Credit Line for Women Entrepreneurs
IFC provided a US$15 million line of credit to Access Bank Nigeria, dedicating lines of credit to finance women-owned businesses. This initiative will increase the contributions of women-owned businesses to the economy, and produce a significant development impact. IFC plans to replicate this initiative in other emerging markets.
According to World Bank Group research, women are more likely than men to contribute additional income to household poverty reduction, increasing women's economic power is more likely to translate into improved livelihoods for a wide cross-section of society, and women entrepreneurs are more likely to employ other women. In Nigeria, women are estimated to own or manage 25 to 30 percent of registered businesses. Only an estimated 10 to 15 percent of them, however, have access to appropriate bank credit, limiting their ability to develop and expand their businesses.
To address the issue, IFC provided a US$15 million loan in June 2006 to Access Bank Plc, a Nigerian bank that became one of the first banks in Africa to dedicate lines of credit to finance women-owned businesses. This is the first major loan under IFC's Gender Entrepreneurship Markets (GEM). At that time, Access Bank also became the first bank in Nigeria to be admitted to the Global Banking Alliance for Women, a consortium of best practice banks that leverage the women's market for profit as well as social good.
IFC's funding is designed to allow Access Bank to meet the financing needs of its female clients, particularly those running small and medium enterprises. GEM is providing comprehensive assistance and training to enhance the bank's ability to reach out to the women's market as well as providing business and management training for women entrepreneurs. The bank aims to reach out to at least 300 women, 150 of whom should be new borrowers.
IFC's partnership with Access Bank is a pilot program that IFC is beginning to replicate in other emerging markets. By demonstrating that supporting women entrepreneurs is a commercially viable operation, this initiative will increase the contributions of women-owned businesses to the economy, produce a significant development impact, and help diversify IFC's assistance to a key underserved market sub-sector — women entrepreneurs.