Stanbic, UN Women launch UGX 56 billion collateral-free loan facility for Ugandan female entrepreneurs

The UN Women Country Office and Stanbic Bank Uganda have signed a three-year partnership to among others, build the capacity of female entrepreneurs in financial and business management, value chain marketing, access to cross-border markets, and improving their access to affordable credit.

The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women, also known as UN Women, is a UN agency working for gender equality and the empowerment of women. The agency’s worldwide programmes are aimed at ensuring that every woman and girl lives up to her full potential.

Stanbic Bank through its specialized women’s banking unit-Stanbic for Her, will implement the partnership that seeks to advance women-led enterprises in Uganda and ultimately contributing to achieving the desired global gender parity in business.

The partnership aims at contributing to efforts to remove critical barriers such as difficulty in accessing affordable credit by providing critical skills and confidence to engage with financial institutions.

Muchae Gladys, the Stanbic Bank Uganda Country Head for Credit said at the signing today. “Stanbic for Her’ was motivated by the vision to offer financial and non-financial services to unlock the full potential in women-led enterprises; today we are pleased that the UN Women is joining us in advancing this mission.”

“Working together with UN Women, we will explore several possibilities under financial inclusion and access to banking services, to make the funds for women groups, through their various Village Savings and Loans Association, safe. We will also collaborate in building their capacity to run and grow their small businesses,” she said.

Under the partnership, the two parties will also conduct advocacy and sponsored dialogues on gender equality, investment, and wealth management services for women.  Under this arrangement, the UN Women and Stanbic Bank will collaborate with the Ministry of Health to support cancer screening for women and health insurance.

Anne Juuko, Stanbic Chief Executive Officer, said the low access to finance still remains a major hindrance to the growth of women-led enterprises, especially the hardship in meeting the collateral requirements at commercial banks.

This means that most women entrepreneurs usually have to start from scratch to build their businesses, hence the decision to collaborate in building their capacity to run and grow their small businesses.

Stanbic Bank through its specialized women’s banking unit, Stanbic for Her, will implement the partnership that seeks to advance women-led enterprises in Uganda, with the aim of ultimately contributing to achieving the desired global gender parity in business.

The partnership aims to contribute to efforts to remove critical barriers such as difficulty in accessing affordable credit by providing critical skills and confidence to engage with financial institutions.

Muchae Gladys, the Stanbic Bank Uganda Country Head for Credit said that ‘Stanbic for Her’ was motivated by the vision to offer financial and non-financial services to unlock the full potential of women-led enterprises.

She hopes that UN Women will explore several possibilities under financial inclusion and access to banking services, to make the funds for women’s groups, through their various Village Savings and Loans Association, safe, and help women in overcoming the post-COVID-19 effects.

“Stanbic for Her’ was motivated by the vision to offer financial and non-financial services to unlock the full potential in women-led enterprises; today we are pleased that the UN Women is joining us in advancing this mission,” she said during the signing.

“Working together with UN Women, we will explore several possibilities under financial inclusion and access to banking services, to make the funds for women groups, through their various Village Savings and Loans Association, safe. We will also collaborate in building their capacity to run and grow their small businesses,” she added, adding that Stanbic for Her, which was started in the midst of the pandemic has reached at least 10,000 women and lent out 56 billion shillings to date.

However, the general problem is, that many people start businesses and most fail before five years. Juuko says that one of the ways to overcome this is to first train the borrowers on business and financial literacy before giving them the money.