IFC invests to boost loans for Turkish businesswomen

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) has invested $75 million in a bond issued by Turkish private lender Garanti Bank to boost loans for Turkey’s women entrepreneurs, it announced on Wednesday.

The IFC's investment was the first private sector gender bond in emerging markets dedicated to financing enterprises and companies owned or managed by women, the IFC said in a press release.

It stressed: "The investment is in partnership with the Women Entrepreneurs Opportunity Facility (WEOF), launched by IFC through its Banking on Women Program and Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Women initiative."

Around 9 percent of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are owned by women and these face a credit gap of $5 billion while nearly 30 percent fewer women than men have access to financial services, the press release said.

It added: "The gender bond, a new financing structure both in the Turkish market and international capital markets, will help create funding to support these women entrepreneurs and business owners."

Fuat Erbil, Garanti's CEO, said they offer products and services to women entrepreneurs to help them.

The IFC has been working with Turkish lenders to provide over $60 million financing to women entrepreneurs for the last 7 years.

"Strengthening women’s participation in Turkey’s economy helps to unleash the untapped potential for employment and economic growth," Wiebke Schloemer, IFC Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia, said.

She added: "Our partnership with Garanti Group in Turkey and the region ensures that smaller companies and women entrepreneurs will continue to have access to the funds they need to grow and create jobs."

The WEOF aims to enable 100,000 women entrepreneurs all around the world to access capital.

The IFC is a global development institution focused on the private sector in emerging markets. It works with more than 2,000 business globally.

Garanti, established in 1946, Turkey's one of the largest lenders with over $90 billion in assets.

Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women initiative targets to foster economic growth by providing women entrepreneurs worldwide with a business and management education and access to capital. It reached women from across 56 countries.