The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is extending a US$10 million equivalent in local currency credit line to Ameriabank under their Women in Business (WiB) programme for on-lending to women-led small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs).
Ameriabank is the first financial institution in Armenia to join EBRD’s WiB programme.
The financing package is under EBRD’s Eastern Partnership Women in Business Programme aimed to support female entrepreneurship by helping women-led small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to access finance, know-how and advice.
Commenting, Artak Hanesyan, CEO of Ameriabank, said: “We welcome EBRD’s initiative to boost women’s role in our economy. There are specific niches in our economy where women entrepreneurs have been successful, but in most of the industries we still have significant gender disbalance. We strongly believe, that there’s huge untapped potential in women’s entrepreneurship, and that this targeted facility will greatly contribute to the growth of women-led businesses in Armenia.”
The programme also envisages technical assistance component, which will help the women-led SMEs to access specific know-how and non-financial business development services.