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Istanbul, Turkey, 20 October 2011
—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is partnering with FMO, the development bank of the Netherlands, to provide a $40 million loan to ABank in Turkey to help finance small and medium enterprises owned by women entrepreneurs, providing them much-needed access to finance.
The transaction is IFC’s and FMO’s first loan in the country specifically designed to assist enterprises run by women. Women-owned businesses represent nearly 40 percent of the registered micro, small and medium enterprises in Turkey, yet only 15 percent of them have access to finance.
Hamit Aydogan, CEO of ABank, said, “Working with our strategic partner IFC, we will create innovative products and additional opportunities to support women in business. The support extended to ABank by IFC and FMO demonstrates the bank’s solid standing, and also confirms its increasing penetration in the small and medium enterprise segment.”
Nanno Kleiterp, Chief Executive of FMO, said, “FMO believes that supporting small and medium enterprises is key to further develop the private sector in Turkey. Moreover, targeting businesses owned by women will allow ABank to strengthen its lending in an underserved market segment.”
Dimitris Tsitsiragos, IFC Vice President for Eastern and Southern Europe, Central Asia, Middle East and North Africa, said, “Giving more women access to finance and increasing their economic power translates into more income, less household poverty, better nutrition and schooling for children, as well as new jobs for other women. Empowering more women entrepreneurs to participate in business will unleash significant potential for further development of the Turkish private sector.”
IFC is helping financial institutions around the world to reach women. By 2013, IFC aims to provide loans through financial intermediaries to over 3 million small and medium enterprises globally, and to ensure that at least a quarter of them are owned by women. At the same time, IFC plans to expand financial services to more than 58 million microfinance clients around the world, at least half of them women.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development institution focused exclusively on the private sector. We help developing countries achieve sustainable growth by financing investment, providing advisory services to businesses and governments, and mobilizing capital in the international financial markets. In fiscal 2011, amid economic uncertainty across the globe, we helped our clients create jobs, strengthen environmental performance, and contribute to their local communities—all while driving our investments to an all-time high of nearly $19 billion. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
For more information about FMO, visit
www.fmo.nl
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