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Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative

The Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) is a groundbreaking partnership housed in the World Bank that aims to unlock financing for women-led/owned businesses (WSMEs) in developing countries. We-Fi’s partners include 14 donor governments, six multilateral development banks as implementing partners, and numerous other stakeholders in the public and private sector around the world. As of December 2024, We-Fi programs have benefitted almost 400,000 women-led businesses across 82 countries and facilitated over $5.3 billion in financing to WSMEs.

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EBRD and We-Fi

The EBRD is the implementing partner of the following We-Fi-funded programmes: 

Round 2: Women of the Steppe

This program supports Central Asian women in business in the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.  It aims to facilitate access to finance for women-led small and medium-sized enterprises (WSMEs) through partner financial institutions (PFIs) in the region, provide capacity building support to WSMEs and support the development of an enabling environment for women entrepreneurship through policy dialogue and engagement with private and public sector stakeholders. 

Round 3: Stepping up for Women

This program aims at supporting women entrepreneurship through innovative financial solutions and a focus on digitalization. Key features include results-based financing with gender-linked targets (IDA Central Asia) and investments in digital technologies, coupled with advisory support. This initiative provides tailored guidance to help WSMEs and women entrepreneurs leverage digital tools to enhance business resilience and sales.

Round 5: WE Finance Code

This initiative is designed to implement the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Code across 13 countries in Central Asia, the Western Balkans, and the South-Eastern Mediterranean (SEMED) region. The Code represents a commitment by financial service providers, public sector entities, and other key players in the financial ecosystem to advance the growth WSMEs. As a global framework, the Code is adaptable to local contexts and aims to foster systemic support for WSME financing, ensuring that women entrepreneurs have access to the resources they need for business growth and development. The programme operates in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan in Central Asia, Egypt and Morocco in SEMED, and Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia in the Western Balkans. 

Success story: Together with the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative, we’ve helped Aisuluu launch a pilot version of her new Mugalim AI platform for teachers.