Countries
Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan
Local project partner
Kyrgyzstan: Kyrgyz Investment and Credit Bank, FINCA Bank, Optima Bank
Uzbekistan: Ipoteka Bank, Bank Ipak Yuli, Uzbek Leasing International A.O., Hamkorbank
Mongolia: Transcapital NBFI, VisionFund, Khan Bank LLC
Tajikistan: Bank Eskhata, Bank Arvand, IMON International, HUMO International, The First Microfinance Bank
German project partner
IPC GmbH
Donor
EBRD
Duration
16.01.2020 - 30.11.2024
In Central Asia, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) often have poor development opportunities.
In addition, there is a wide disparity in access to finance as well as skills and employment, especially for women. These structural deficits prevent women-led SMEs from realizing their economic potential. Lack of access to finance is a major obstacle to development and growth for women-owned businesses. The lack of adequate finance tailored to the specific needs of SMEs, combined with fewer opportunities for women to gain management experience, means that these enterprises are mostly confined to low-value-added and low-productivity sectors.
The EBRD designed the Central Asian Women in Business program with the aim of supporting women's entrepreneurship in Central Asia (Kyrgyzstan, Mongolia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan) and, more broadly, to promote women's participation in business by helping women-led SMEs access finance, know-how, and advice.
Women in Business will be supported through education, training, and lending in the project countries.
This builds on the experience gained in Tajikistan, where a similar EBRD project was implemented by Sparkassenstiftung from 2017 to 2021. Accordingly, the instruments and approaches, and in some cases also the experts, that have proven to be successful in Tajikistan will be used.
Project Tasks
- Analysis of financial institutions regarding their suitability for offering services to small and medium-sized women entrepreneurs.
- Creation and development of suitable organizational structures, business models and strategies as well as processes to support financial institutions in starting, continuing or expanding efficient lending to the target group.
- Implementation of comprehensive capacity-building measures - training and coaching, development of internal training capacities.
- Development of credit products with a high proportion of financial and economic education for women