KIT Royal Tropical Institute is supporting FMO in the development of a Women SMEs (WSMEs) market as well as to incorporate an improved gender lens in their financing strategy and product offering.

Gender equality as a cornerstone

Gender equality – SDG 5 – is a cornerstone of FMO’s strategy for Financial Institutions (FIs). FMO has long seen the potential of the financial sector as an agent for sustainable economic growth and change – whether by providing finance to those with constrained access to (formal) finance, fueling the small and medium-sized enterprise Engine of economies or by raising environmental and social standards. The FI strategy introduces the concept of viewing the Financial Institution ecosystem through a gender lens, and as a result will increasingly focus on the Women’s Market, for FMO’s approach, primarily Women Owned SMEs (WSMEs). 

KIT presents a package of services to support FMO with integrating and materializing the gender business case in order to unlock untapped segments of financial markets and create sustainable impact.

Activities in support of this project include: 

• Internal mapping on policies & procedures  
  
• Data collection and data mining: developing evidenced WSMEs business cases and documenting best practices 
  
• Toolkit Development: developing a practical field guide for FMO staff and its investees on ‘how to’ serve the WSMEs market (including due diligence requirements); a pitchdeck and a lean data scanning tool for FMO investment officers willing to offer a ‘Gender Line’ to local commercial banks.  
  
• Capacity Building: addressing knowledge gaps among all FMO stakeholders in the WSMEs financing value chain 
  
• Catalyzing knowledge development within FMO and building alliances with key partners 
  
• Policy and strategy support