The EU has launched a new “first of its kind” program designed to help female entrepreneurs. The European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Commission have started an initiative that aims to help EU commercial banks improve access to finance for women-owned and women-led SMEs in Europe.
The project is predicated on the belief that female entrepreneurs face major financial hurdles.
The InvestEU Gender Finance Lab, developed by the EIB Group with funding from the InvestEU Advisory Hub, will include live webinars, interactive discussions, and access to a virtual knowledge hub. The goal is to encourage more investments into female founded firms.
The EIB points to data that indicates women-led firms show lower risk profiles and higher repayment rates.
The women’s market is said to represent $700 billion global revenue opportunity.
EIB President Nadia Calviño said that investing in women is not only the right thing but the smart thing to do as it drives prosperity and growth.
The program apparently does not support equity capital, which tends to be the most frequent path to finance early-stage firms. Platforms that provide debt capital tend to be too risk-averse to invest in a very risky firm—regardless of gender.
Additionally, benchmarks for success or metrics to measure the impact of the program were not incorporated into the EIB/EU announcement.