Banyan Global conducted a global inventory of ‘international best practice’ access to finance initiatives for the International Finance Corporation (IFC). The project’s objective was to identify financial products, services and initiatives targeted to increase access to finance for women business owners across the micro, small, medium and corporate spectrum. Focusing on emerging markets, Banyan Global examined innovative approaches to targeting women entrepreneurs and prepared case studies on programs that were successful in reaching scale, sustainability and impact. We made recommendations on how programs can effectively reach female entrepreneurs, and successful models were shared with both the public and private sector to enhance provision of finance to women’s enterprises. An important practical application of the research has been in the development of training materials for lending officers of commercial banks and other financial institutions on reaching women entrepreneurs.
