The Women Entrepreneurs Opportunity Facility (WEOF), a partnership between Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women and IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, has delivered $1.45bn in investments over the past five years for local financial institutions to lend to women-owned businesses. This first-of-its-kind finance facility has supported nearly 53,000 entrepreneurs in developing countries through 53 financial institutions across 33 countries to date, according to a progress report released today.

WEOF was launched with $43m in funding from the Goldman Sachs Foundation. The initiative was designed to expand and deepen financing for women-owned SMEs in developing countries, empower women entrepreneurs through access to finance and expertise, and demonstrate the commercial viability of investing in women by attracting external investors. Of the $1.45bn investments through WEOF, $979m was invested from IFC’s own balance sheet and $471m was from external investors.

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