By Mary Ellen Iskenderian | President and CEO, Women’s World Banking
The numbers are overwhelming: millions of women entrepreneurs around the world want, no, need capital to grow their businesses. But they’re not getting it.
Across the globe, there are about 10 million women-owned small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the formal business sector. And yet, 70% of these women-owned SMEs report being underserved by banks or without any banking services at all. If the credit gap of $300 billion were closed by 2020 in just 15 countries (including the BRICs), per capita incomes could be 12% higher, on average, in those countries by 2030. Add the impact of job creation to that number and the effect on economic growth from financing these women-led businesses is staggering.
It just doesn’t add up: we have a compelling business case and an opportunity for sustainable, inclusive growth, but banking for women entrepreneurs remains ‘business as usual.’ The time for talk is over. It’s time to move the muscle of capital. And that’s where gender lens investing comes in.