US$5 Mln Support for Women-led SMEs

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Vietnam recently signed a US$5 million grant agreement, funded by the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), to support Vietnamese women-led small and medium-sized enterprises whose access to finance has been weakened because of Covid-19.

The grant will finance the Covid-19 Relief for Women-led SMEs Project, aiming to incentivize participating banks in Vietnam to restructure existing loans or extend new loans to at least 500 women-led SMEs. Funds will be disbursed on a first-come, first-served basis, thus the banks will be competing for the funds and are incentivized to proactively find eligible women-led SMEs. Five banks have volunteered to participate in the grant, including the Asia Commercial Bank (ACB), Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV), Saigon-Hanoi Bank (SHB), Tien Phong Bank (TPB) and Vietnam Prosperity Bank (VPB).

Source: Vietnam Business Forum