OPIC, IFC, and XacBank Supporting Women-owned Businesses in Mongolia
June 8, 2017
(OPIC)
WASHINGTON, DC – The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), IFC
(International Finance Corporation), and XacBank LLC today signed a loan
agreement to support access to finance in Mongolia for women-owned small and
medium sized (SME) businesses.
In Mongolia, while 64 percent of SMEs are women-owned, the majority are
underserved or unserved by financial institutions. Through cooperation with
XacBank, this commitment seeks to provide the financing needed by women-owned
SMEs in the country and offer better financial and business advisory services to
women entrepreneurs.
“Women entrepreneurs are critical to economic growth and development in
Mongolia. During a time when the majority of women-owned SMEs in Mongolia are
underserved or unserved by financial institutions, OPIC is proud to partner with
IFC and Xacbank to help these female entrepreneurs gain access to finance and
new opportunities,” said Acting OPIC President and CEO Dev Jagadesan.
Marcos Brujis, IFC Director of Financial Institutions Group said, “Strong
economic growth cannot be attained without gender equality and the empowerment
of one-half of the world’s population. IFC’s Banking on Women program, and
partnerships like this with OPIC and XacBank, have a critical role to play in
unlocking and financing the vast untapped potential of female entrepreneurs.”
"SMEs constitute a vital part of the economic foundation of Mongolia. XacBank
has been a front runner in providing financial solutions to small businesses and
entrepreneurs. Together with OPIC and IFC, XacBank is opening new opportunities
for SMEs and providing competitive financing opportunities," said Xacbank’s
President Amartuvshin Hanibal.
The commitment is part of OPIC’s target goal of providing $100 million in
loans to women owned SMEs as part of the Women Entrepreneurs Opportunity
Facility (WEOF) by March 2022. WEOF is a Goldman Sachs Foundation and IFC
partnership to increase access to capital for women entrepreneurs in emerging
markets.
Launched in late 2010, IFC’s Banking on Women business invests in and provides
advisory services to financial institutions to scale up and improve financial
and non-financial services for women and women-led SMEs globally. Through
Banking on Women, IFC has US $1.36 billion in cumulative investment commitments
in 43 projects in 24 countries dedicated to financing women SME customers, and
has led 33 advisory services projects with financial institutions in 23
countries to scale up financial and non-financial services to women customers.
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