About
A Women Entrepreneurs Finance Code (WE Finance Code) is being rolled out in 30+ countries in 2024-2025 to expand the amount of financing available to women-led micro, small and medium enterprises (WMSMEs ). It will do so by addressing the data gaps that inhibit Women-Led businesses from accessing finance. The Code will increase the number of financial institutions around the world that are disclosing their level of funding to Women-led MSMEs. It will also create incentives, transparency, and accountability to close the gap. By increasing women’s access to finance, the Code will contribute to the economic empowerment and resilience of women around the world in a systematic and high-impact way.
Code Commitment
The core of the Code is a simple, voluntary pledge that financial service providers (“FSPs”) can make to endorse the goal of closing the finance gaps facing WMSMEs and to commit to taking action in three areas:
- Leadership: Designate a senior leader to champion the organizations’ efforts to support WMSMEs.
- Data: Monitor and report annually on financing provided to WMSMEs.
- Activities: Expand and introduce new measures to support and finance WMSMEs.
Each pilot country will launch a Code with public and private sector Anchors who make specific commitments to close finance and data gaps for women entrepreneurs. Within one year, the pilots should have evidence of concrete new commitments by financial institutions to expand support for WMSMEs. After two years, evidence will become available of FSPs providing new financial and non-financial services to WMSMEs.
Code Governance
Addressing a challenge of this scale requires a multi-stakeholder approach to galvanize partners within each country adopting the Code around key actions. Each country will form a National Coalition to which four Code Champions will be nominated. Champions will include leaders representing:
- Financial Services Providers regulator(s) or other similar entity (ies)
- Leading financial services provider ready to champion the Code and expand financing for WMSMEs
- A trusted body that FSPs will report data to and who will aggregate the data and produce a national report
- Other key ecosystem actors
The National Coalition will design and implement the Code. Additional Code signatories (other than Champions) will participate in the National Coalition on a rotating basis.
Peer Learning Programs 2025
Become a Catalyst of Change for WMSMEs in Your Country
The Financial Alliance for Women (Alliance), in partnership with the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), is supporting Public and Private sectors to understand, develop, and implement the WE Finance Code in their countries.
The following collaborative virtual and in-person learning programs are offered in 2025. These are complemented by knowledge products available on www.we-fi.org.

Community of Champions
The WE Finance Code Community of Champions (CoC) is a global peer learning community made up of national Code champions who share best practices across implementing countries. The CoC consists of leaders from Central Banks and other FSP regulators, supply-side data aggregators, main FSP Code signatories and/or their trade associations, National Code coordinators, and other ecosystem actors working to build and implement the Code. The CoC meets four times per year online and once in-person for a day-long deep dive workshop on emerging best practices—the WE Finance Code Study Tour.
WE Finance Code Study Tour
The Study Tour is a 1-day immersive program sharing lessons learned from more than 30+ WE Finance Code implementing countries, going in-depth into country Charters and Implementation Plans, and Gender Data journeys. What is working and what is not
will be discussed openly in a collaborative learning atmosphere. This workshop is a unique opportunity to learn and network with the WE Finance Code Community of Champions Members.
The 2025 WE Finance Code Study Tour takes place in Kigali, Rwanda, on May 30, dovetailing with the Financial Alliance for Women Annual Summit taking place in Kigali on May 28 and 29.
Primer on Business and Strategic Case for WMSMEs Strategy
The Primer on the Strategic and Business Case for Serving WMSMES is a 4-part webinar series showcasing the world’s best use cases. This series equips FSPs with insights to effectively serve women entrepreneurs as a distinct market segment and foster an organizational culture that supports these initiatives. The Primer will feature expert speakers from Financial Alliance Members with successful WMSMEs and Employee Value Proposition strategies. These experts bring hands-on experience and will share valuable lessons learned from their own Women’s Markets programs.
In 2025, this will take place through weekly live sessions from March 6th to March 27th.
WMSMEs Gender Data Learning Series
The WMSMEs Gender Data Learning Series is a rigorous training program focused on guiding FSPs through a step-by-step journey to sex-disaggregate their data (for all clients and specifically WMSMEs).
The program features guest experts from Alliance members and data experts sharing practical know-how and tools for sex disaggregating MSMEs data and using it to drive market development. It equips WE Finance Code Signatories, including FSPs and data aggregators, with the know-how to develop or enhance their institutions’ gender data usage and reporting.
In 2025, this will take place through weekly live sessions and online coursework in between sessions from October 9th to November 6th.