The latest news from members reflects their continued and expanded focus on supporting WMSEs and demonstrates the profitability of women customers.
Tyme’s South African operation TymeBank becomes profitable, putting it among the 5 percent of digital banks globally to reach this milestone [1]. Tymebank qualifies as one of the world’s fastest-growing digital banks, having gained 8.5 million customers—53 percent of whom are women—since its launch in February 2019. Its emergent SME lending portfolio achieved 30 percent growth in 2023.
Tyme’s Philippines operation, GoTyme Bank, is now surpassing TymeBank’s early growth rate: it’s reached 2.3 million customers in just 14 months. In addition to its retail products, GoTyme offers its merchant cash advance product to the 1.1 million MSME businesses located in the Philippines.
City Bank PLC launched the City Alo E-Learning Series. The first session, coinciding with International Women Entrepreneur Day, brought together 30 women entrepreneurs from across Bangladesh to discuss key topics such as strategic decision-making for business growth and pathways to finance. Six webinars are planned for 2024, each with an expert speaker followed by interactive audience Q&A.
Nikel partnered with USAID to launch a new digital platform to empower Indonesian women entrepreneurs, helping to achieve the Government of Indonesia’s goal of 30% of bank loans to MSMEs through the combination of education and accessibility. Core to the platform is Bu Mira, a chatbot that acts as a business partner to help women entrepreneurs grow their businesses. Bu Mira provides educational modules and financial tools, and guides users through loan applications via WhatsApp. The loans are provided by KlikA2C, a leading peer-to-peer lender in Indonesia, as well as by banking partners.
Banco BHD will receive a $75 million subordinated loan from IDB Invest to enhance credit access for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) led or owned by women. This collaboration aims to automate and scale Banco BHD’s offerings for women-led MSMEs, catalyzing knowledge transfer among financial entities and stakeholders in the Dominican Republic, as part of the bank’s leadership of the Dominican WeFinance Code.
[1] Neobanking Report 2023, Simon and Kucher
