Spotlight on: Rubber hits the road
As the WE Finance Code implementation deepens in adopting countries, so does the demand for Alliance expertise in supporting signatories to implement programs for WMSMEs. Last week we had the opportunity to train 36 financial institutions — all signatories of the WE Finance Code — from Mongolia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and the Kyrgyz Republic—in Samarkand.
Together over 2.5 days, we explored how to build and scale Women’s Markets programs that truly serve women-led micro, small, and medium enterprises (WMSMEs). The Alliance designed an intensive, hands-on learning experience focused on the business case, segmentation, customer value propositions, internal alignment, measurement and reporting. This Women’s Markets Playbook: Strategy Design for WMSMEs, brought global experience from Alliance members, including Bank al Etihad and BRAC Bank, and combined it with 10 Case Presentations from the region—Ipak Yuli and Xalq Bank from Uzbekistan, Khan Bank Mongolia; KMF Bank Kazakhstan; Humo Bank, Arvand Bank and Imon from Tajikistan; Eldik, Baylik, and KICB from Kyrgyz Republic. This program was organized in partnership with EBRD, Consumer CentriX, and IPC and with the support of the Central Bank of Uzbekistan.
A huge thank-you to all participants for their energy, openness, and dedication to championing the female economy in Central Asia. While this type of training is a vital eye opener for FSPs, it is not a substitute for the level of engagement one gets from membership of the Alliance. No matter where FSPs are on their journey, we have an offer that can support. This includes our world class All Stars Academy, open to members only, and taking place over 5 days in February hosted by Bank Al Etihad, Jordan. Taught by members from four continents over five days, this deep dive leaves participants with a full action plan to take their Women’s Markets program to the next level. Members can register here.
Members also have exclusive access to our mentoring program, where they get one-on-one mentoring from another member at a more advanced stage in their program over a 6-month period. Click here to apply for Cohort #19 taking place January – June 2026. The confidential nature of this relationship allows for trouble shooting through the more difficult issues of getting buy-in from the organization for example. Also exclusive to our members is our quarterly Ask the Expert sessions and our Employee Value Proposition Taskforce made up of DEI professionals.
Youth and Young Entrepreneurs was the topic of November’s Ask the Expert session with speakers from BRAC Bank Bangladesh and FCMB Nigeria walking us through the business rationale for serving the youth, the value propositions that resonate, and the pathway to their Women’s Markets Program. Segments we will return to in 2026. The final session of the Employee Value Proposition Taskforce takes place December 11 and also takes looks at age, this time focusing on managing multigenerational workforces.
The Alliance’s latest annual aggregated data from across members continues to demonstrate the value of a strategic focus on Women’s Markets. The share customer base that are women is markedly up in all segments including WSME, and average loan size is 88 percent of MSME, up from 76 percent just three years earlier. Tremendous results and thank you to all our members who contributed their data. Benchmarking reports are on the way.
This month we had our final WE Finance Code Community of Champions meeting which focused on an important piece of Code implementation—policies that enable WMSMEs to thrive. A menu of examples hailed from the Central Banks of Rwanda and the Kyrgyz Republic; the Ministry of Finance of Mexico and the Shared Agent Network of Nigeria. This Community of over 250 Code Champions will continue next year and if you are a Central Bank, data aggregator or FSP signed up for the Code or interested in doing so, you are eligible to participate in this community. You can sign up here.
Last but not least this month we are very proud to welcome Bank of Kigali, Rwanda’s largest bank, as our latest member. We interview CEO Diane Karusisi, who shares her vision for being the bank of choice for women in Rwanda.
We are hugely proud of our wonderful and committed members, who are so generous in their support of building a more inclusive world, and our financial sponsors for your support during 2025.
Together, we’re building the future of inclusive finance — one institution and one country at a time.
In community,
