Women who own small businesses are increasingly turning to digital platforms to source capital for growth as they battle discrimination from formal channels.

Small and medium-sized enterprises consistently cite access to credit as the biggest constraint on growth and trade, and a 2016 survey commissioned by the Asian Development Bank confirmed that export firms headed by women reported greater difficulties getting finance than other trading firms.

Globally, 10.1% of all formal-sector firms are led by women and only 3% in Asia and the Pacific.

Banks are less likely to extend credit to SMEs as they tend to apply for smaller loans, have poorer financial documentation than big firms, and lack collateral, which banks say make it difficult for financial institutions to profitably assess risk and offer finance.

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Read the working paper

https://www.adb.org/publications/women-and-trade-gender-impact-trade-finance-and-fintech

About the authors

Alisa DiCaprio was a research fellow at ADBI at the time the research was conducted

Ying Yao is a postdoctoral researcher at Hitotsubashi University, Tokyo

Rebecca Simms was a research associate at ADBI at the time the research was conducted.

Know more about ADBI’s work on women and the economy

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