IFC ADVISORY SERVICES Women and Business Stories of Impact This series provides examples of our impact, expertise, and lessons learned working with clients and partners. Increasing Access to Finance for Women Entrepreneurs in Lebanon IFC is working with BLC Bank to improve access to RESULTS & IMPACT finance and support the growth of women-owned businesses in Lebanon.  Increased number of loans to women- owned small and medium enterprises by 55 percent. With IFC support, BLC Bank launched the Women’s  Increased number of women-owned Empowerment Initiative, offering a range of services deposit accounts by 17 percent. tailored to women-owned businesses. This initiative  Became the first bank in the Middle makes it easier for these businesses to access the East and North Africa to commit to the capital they need to expand, creating jobs and UN Global Compact/UN Women’s Empowerment Principles and to join spurring economic development in Lebanon. the Global Banking Alliance for Women. “Initiatives like these are key to changing attitudes about the role of women in society. At the same time, we are also demonstrating that there is a considerable commercial advantage in providing women with concrete means to access financing for their businesses.” — Maurice Sehnaoui, chairman and general manager, BLC Bank. IFC ADVISORY SERVICES WOMEN AND BUSINESS The Opportunity Our Approach The main barrier to increasing the participation of women in IFC’s Advisory Services team worked with BLC Bank to business in Lebanon remains access to finance. While this design financial services and banking products for smaller constraint is universal for all small and medium enterprises, enterprises. As a sub-set of its overall strategy for small and regardless of gender, it tends to disproportionately affect medium enterprises, IFC helped BLC recognize the business women-owned businesses. Women own more than 30 percent case for actively reaching out to the market of smaller of all smaller businesses in the developing world, but in enterprises owned by women. Lebanon, only 3 percent of bank loans go to female entrepreneurs. IFC’s support included market research to understand the needs of women-owned businesses and the testing of new This under-tapped market presents an enormous opportunity product concepts. Adopting IFC’s recommendations, BLC for financial institutions and other business providers that launched the Women’s Empowerment Initiative, the first support women-owned businesses. Research indicates that program dedicated to the economic empowerment of women women tend to be loyal customers and cautious investors, in in the Middle East and North Africa region. BLC Bank targets addition to having better loan-payback rates. women as employees and entrepreneurs, providing them with innovative products and services to support their Serving this market not only makes business sense, it also has advancement. a positive impact on society as a whole by expanding economic growth and job creation. A recent World Bank study In addition to new financial services, the Women’s in Lebanon has shown that women-owned enterprises hire Empowerment Initiative provides non-financial services more women and provide greater social benefits to employees critical to supporting the growth of women-owned businesses. than enterprises owned by men. In this context, BLC launched a website dedicated to female entrepreneurs that allows them to exchange ideas and combine forces to tackle professional challenges. BLC Bank also created a Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award to honor successful businesswomen. IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector in developing countries. REGION: MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA | COUNTRY: LEBANON | STRATEGIC PRIORITY: SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES | BUSINESS LINES: ACCESS TO FINANCE/ SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS ADVISORY | CONTACT Riham Mustafa | Cairo, Egypt RMustafa@ifc.org | +20 2 2461-4230 Ifc.org/sustainablebusiness June 2013