Alliance members have recently launched a range of initiatives that exemplify this year’s International Women’s Day theme: “Accelerate Action”:
Westpac: Westpac’s female entrepreneurs fund will be expanded by another $500 million to further address the challenges faced by women accessing finance to start or grow a business.
The commitment was launched two years ago and reached its $500 million target this month, supporting 1,155 women across a range of industries including retail, healthcare, hospitality and creative services. Having dedicated, fenced fund for women entrepreneurs sends a strong signal to the market. More information
Tyme: GoTyme Indonesia launched Tyme’s award-winning Merchant Cash Advance solution in Indonesia, in partnership with Olsera and operating through lending infrastructure firm Finfra. Following similar initiatives by GoTyme in South Africa, the Philippines, and Vietnam, the program aims to provide quick and flexible financing to MSMEs.
According to GoTyme Indonesia, eligible merchants using the Olsera platform can secure financing without collateral. Loan terms are flexible, allowing merchants to determine their preferred amount and tenor. The pricing structure is transparent, with a single agreed-upon fee and no hidden charges or penalties for early repayment. All features that women especially value. Approved merchants receive funds within two business days, and repayments adjust dynamically based on weekly sales, alleviating the pressure of fixed monthly installments.
Olsera notes that uptake thus far has been outstanding, particularly for women-owned SMEs.
The City Bank: The bank celebrated International Women Day with staff and customers bby running a Women’s Day and Ramadan merchant offer with savings on shopping, dining, lifestyle and personal care services; and by increasing visibility of it’s City Alo women’s banking program in the media. The bank also launched a new initiative titled “Her Comeback Story”, to motivate women to return to work after a maternity career break. See the campaign
Boost Capital: Boost Capital, a B2B fintech, published an op-ed explaining how it uses AI to support lenders in fraud detection and onboard customers digitally. Its AI use cases include Natural Language Processing (NPL) to enable entrepreneurs to get questions answered in their preferred language and AI-driven onboarding to simplify applications will be particularly impactful for on-ramping women MSMEs to FSP sales funnel. As Boost Capital co-founder writes, these AI solutions may not be flashy—but they are valuable. “’Boring AI’ is what really moves the needle for our FSP partners. Boring back-end AI doing know-your-customer (KYC), document validation, and fraud detection is powering the most bank growth right now.” More information
BAC: The Latin American banking group launched a comprehensive program to support women-led businesses to scale through exports. Fifty women entrepreneurs from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica and Panama completed the program, of which 12 were selected to participate in EXPOCOMER 2025, Central America’s largest trade fair. The program offers training, mentoring, connections to markets, visibility and recognition—exactly the combination that supports women to grow their businesses.
The bank also launched a program for 30 women students in STEM, supporting them with soft skills development, employability, leadership, coping with difficulties and communications techniques. The initiative was organized by BAC LatAm in partnership with Vital Voices Costa Rica as part of BAC’s employee volunteer program.
