Just three months ago, at the G20 leaders’ summit in Hamburg, Germany,the creation of We-Fi, an innovative new facility to advance women’s entrepreneurship and help women in developing countries increase their access to the finance, markets, technology, and networks necessary to start and grow a business, was announced. We-Fi aims to leverage donor funding to unlock more than $1 billion in International Financial Institution (IFI) and commercial financing by working with financial intermediaries, funds and other market actors. 

Currently, 70 percent of women-owned, small and medium-size businesses in the developing world can’t access the financing they need. They are either shut out of financial institutions or can only get high-interest, short-term loans, resulting in a nearly $300 billion annual credit deficit to women-owned businesses. They also face other constraints, including limited access to technology, a lack of networks and knowledge resources, and legal and policy obstacles to business ownership and development.   

We-Fi already has more than $340 million in donor commitments – exceeding our target by $100 million. The World Bank Group was invited to create the facility by the United States and Germany. We-Fi is a collaboration among the governments of Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Republic of Korea, United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.