Monday 29 April 2019 12:16 am | Updated: Monday 03 June 2019 12:22 am

Supporting women entrepreneurs could unlock $330bn worldwide as most female-owned businesses struggle to get credit, group says

Denying female entrepreneurs access to the funds they need is costing the global economy billions, an international charity said today as it called on financial institutions to improve their products and services for women.

Development organisation Care said that 80 per cent of women-owned businesses that need credit are being under-served, opening up a $1.7tn (£1.3tn) financing gap.

The group said that women are better at saving, borrowing and taking risks than men.

It comes after a BNY Mellon and United Nations Foundation study showed that giving women better access to financial products and services could unlock around $330bn in revenues around the world.

“Economically empowering women provides an undeniable return on investment: markets grow, women thrive and families and communities are stronger,” said Kathy Calvin, chief executive of the UN Foundation.

Opening up financing to women “will not only have a positive impact on individual women, but also their communities and, ultimately, national economies,” Care said in a statement.

The organisation said its efforts with 5,000 women in Ethiopia helped them increase their incomes by 500 per cent over three years with the correct support.

Only 3.6 per cent of women had no savings at the end of the project, down from 70 per cent at the beginning.

“I’ve worked this land now for 35 years, but the land doesn’t belong to me. In our community, women don’t own land, it belongs to men,” said Yeo Nakoni, a female farmer in the Ivory Coast.

She added: “When we go to the bank to ask for a loan, we’re denied because we have no collateral.”

Nakoni pays 500 francs (£0.67) every week to a fund which provides loans to female entrepreneurs. These are paid back with interest.

140,000 women are part of the same scheme, Care said.