The Development Finance Support Unit, SBPBSC-Lahore arranged a workshop on the financing issues of Women Entrepreneurs on 9th March, 2010 at SBPBSC Lahore. The purpose of arranging this workshop was to discuss the finance related issues of women entrepreneurs with the senior representatives of banks extending SME finance in the Lahore region. In this workshop, the senior officials from the banking sector, chambers of commerce & industry and other relevant institutions participated and shared their views and experiences.

The unique feature of this workshop was that the women entrepreneurs who have actually faced difficulties in obtaining loans from banks shared their problems particularly with the banks whereas the senior bankers discussed their viewpoint in assessing SMEs for a loan and gave clarification on certain issues. The workshop was conducted in the form of the following presentations delivered by various stakeholders to discuss their points of view on the financial problems of women entrepreneurs/SMEs, the impact of finance on their earnings and policy recommendations.  

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“At the CIPE’s business policy roundtable on Women Entrepreneurship Development held in January 2007, one of the major impediments for women entrepreneurs identified by the participants was the ability to access finance through banking channels.”

Read Hammad Siddiqui’s update on expanding access to finance in Pakistan, posted on the CIPE Development Blog.

Starting from May 2008 a private bank active on the Romanian market, Credit Europe Bank, has decided to get involved in supporting business women. It launched a campaign dedicated to women entrepreneurs under the slogan “Women Love to Hear Nice Figures”. Any SME where at least one woman is shareholder, manager or administrator is eligible for participation. The bank provides a wide range of credits and savings products for SMEs under favorable conditions to companies owned or managed by women. As part of this campaign the bank also launched a portal dedicated exclusively to business women (www.femeiadeafaceri.ro).
Besides the information about the bank’s products, the portal highlights success stories of women entrepreneurs and supporters of women entrepreneurship. The portal is available in Romanian and English.