Family bank has set aside a Sh50 billion kitty for lending women-owned enterprises in Kenya, as the lender looks to tap on women to grow its loan portfolio.
The programme will be undertaken jointly with the African Guarantee Fund for the next two years and will be looking to support growth opportunities that women's groups offer.
According to the lender, women face many constraints hampering their access to finance and business growth.
However, through the programme dubbed "Queen Banking", women will now have an opportunity to access up to Sh7 million secured and unsecured loans, through biashara boost offering.
Family Bank CEO Rebecca Mbithi said the product is exclusive to businesses with at least 51 per cent of the shares controlled by women, or 100 per cent owned.
Entreprises where women constitute more than 30 per cent of the board or more than 25 per cent of senior management, or those that have products or services specifically geared to benefit women, will also benefit from the proposition.
“This is a timely product for the Kenyan market as we are seeing that women are starting businesses twice the rate of our male counterparts, yet their economic potential remains underserved,” said Mbithi.
According to the Economics Kenya Labour Force Report 2022 by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, women form 49.7 per cent of Kenya’s total labour force.
They make up 50.3 per cent of Kenya’s total population with 40 per cent of micro and formal SMEs being owned by women.
McKinsey Global Institute report 2015 finds that $12 trillion could be added to the global GDP, if women are economically empowerment and narrow the gender gap.
Banks have often perceived women-led businesses as risky due to the low quality or number of assets for collateral and the generally smaller business sizes.
“By increasing on-ward lending to women, we are not only impacting their businesses, but also families, communities, societies and the nation. We are able to do these through strategic partnerships such as with the African Guarantee Fund,” she added.
Under the plan, women enterprises will get an unsecured lending of up to Sh2.5 million to finance projects on piped water, Sh10 million for schools and Sh2 million for agribusinesses.
“Our commitment is to continue working with Family Bank to develop transformational financial products and services for SMEs who are the backbone of our economies and the major drivers of job creation,” said African Guarantee Fund Group CEO Jules Ngankam.
