Women Entrepreneurship Development Program - Technical Assistance

Results achieved as of March 2017 include: (1) more than 5 953 women entrepreneurs took loans worth ETB 1.41 Billion (61% of borrowers had never taken a loan before) and over 8 906 participated in business training; (2) with training alone participating female enterprises grew profits by 44.7% and employment by 55.73%; (3) for women that took loans participating female enterprises grew profits by 78% and employment by 68% and repayment of loans stands at 99.4%; (4) for repeat borrowers loan sizes have increased on average by 12 000% with loan size averages coming in at 236 715 ETB. These results have contributed to the microfinance institutions' improved ability to appraise clients and reduce the collateral requirements from an average of 200% of the value of the loan to 125%. At the same time microfinance institutions associated with the project are adopting and diffusing new techniques to better reach and serve women entrepreneurs. They are developing new loan products and recognizing new forms of collateral such as vehicles personal guarantees and even business inventory to secure loans. This is very relevant in a country where there is no existing collateral registry. The project is introducing innovative credit technologies to lenders such as psychometric tests to predict the ability of a borrower to repay a loan and reduce the need for collateral. If they score highly they can borrow without traditional collateral. The test is being piloted and subjected to a rigorous impact evaluation. Other banks are pursuing this technology. Scaling-up this technology could fundamentally change the issue of access to credit in Ethiopia. These results have contributed to improving access to finance and services for women entrepreneurs.