DGGF research to better serve female entrepreneurs in emerging markets
The Dutch Good Growth Fund (DGGF) releases a study to better serve financial needs of women-owned businesses in emerging markets. DGGF aims to foster innovative financing products and invest in specific target groups, i.e. entrepreneurs in fragile states, young entrepreneurs and female entrepreneurs that face high barriers to attracting capital.
DGGF set out to identify where and how it is currently reaching female entrepreneurs, and to gain a better understanding of what capital providers can do to better serve female entrepreneurs’ financial needs. The research focused on what could be learned by concentrating on the SMEs financed by the funds in which DGGF has invested.
Scope of the Study
As many as 70% of women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises in the formal sector in emerging economies are un-served or underserved by financial service providers – a financing gap of around 285 billion USD. This study, commissioned by the DGGF – financing local SMEs, was designed to identify where and how DGGF is currently reaching female entrepreneurs and to gain an understanding of what capital providers (institutional investors and fund managers) can do to better serve female entrepreneurs’ financial needs. The intention is to help DGGF and the sector move forward with solutions that address the financing gap for female entrepreneurs.
DGGF portfolio analysis on female entrepreneurs
In this report, insights are given from the analysis of data available on the portfolio of a sample of DGGF’s investees and underlying SMEs. The insights are drawn from interviews with female entrepreneurs, fund managers and institutional investors. In the final section of the report, a number of conclusions are listed that give concrete advice on how to better serve the financial needs of female entrepreneurs in frontier markets.