The Global Banking Alliance for Women is delighted to announce that the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women initiative will support the Alliance’s data analytics and public education platforms, helping to build the business case for serving the Women’s Market and encouraging more banks around the world to become involved in the economic empowerment of women.
Globally, most women are underserved or un-served by banks. Among formal women-owned MSMEs, there is a $300 billion gap in access to credit. This credit gap is not confined to emerging markets, but also exists in developed economies and has both demand-side and supply-side dimensions. Studies have demonstrated that women business owners are less likely to seek funding from banks for a variety of reasons, including lack of trust, anticipation of rejection, and complicated application processes. Additionally, research suggests that most bankers lack a vision for the Women’s Market — primarily due to insufficient data about the size of the market and the business case for serving it.
The grant will support the GBA’s efforts to address these supply- and demand-side gaps, assisting with the dissemination of know-how on capturing the Women’s Market through peer learning and communications, and furthering the collection of gender-disaggregated data to build the business case. These efforts will support banks in developing a comprehensive value proposition for women, and thus better serve them as clients. All of this furthers the Alliance’s ultimate goal of closing the credit access gap for women.
10,000 Women is a global initiative to foster economic growth by providing women around the world with business and management education, mentoring, networking, and access to capital. As the only network of banks focused exclusively on these aspects of the Women’s Market, the GBA is proud to welcome the Goldman Sachs Foundation and 10,000 Women as partners and sponsors.
