Fintech News Singapore
March 11, 2024
OCBC Bank has unveiled its SME program, which will be launched in April 2024, specifically aimed at supporting female entrepreneurs in Singapore.
The OCBC Women Entrepreneurs Program provides a targeted approach to financing to help women-owned small businesses accelerate their business goals. Notably, women-led startups can receive up to S$100,000 in funding for the first two years and are exempt from loan processing fees.
This financial support comes from the OCBC SME Sustainable Finance Framework, which now includes a dedicated section on social lending. These loans comply with the social lending principles set out by the Loan Market Association and focus on women’s economic empowerment and strengthening women-led businesses.
Participants in the OCBC Women Entrepreneurs Program benefit from educational workshops, networking opportunities, and mentorship from seasoned female entrepreneurs to address the ongoing challenges women face in business.
OCBC data highlights the growing influence of women in the business sector, showing that women-founded small and medium-sized businesses increased from 23% in 2018 to 30% in 2023. These companies have made significant progress and seen significant growth in traditionally male-dominated sectors. Financing options enable growth.
The program builds on OCBC Indonesia’s success with its Women Warriors Programme, which has supported approximately 1,400 female entrepreneurs and disbursed more than S$300 million in loans since its introduction in 2020.
The scheme will also be expanded to Malaysia and Hong Kong in future stages.
Linus Go
Linus Goh, Head of Global Commercial Banking at OCBC, said:
“Through the OCBC Women Entrepreneurs Program, we aim to empower women entrepreneurs to build the right relationships and get the resources and support they need to grow their companies to their full potential.
Even in developed markets like Singapore, where women founders have a history of building successful businesses and have grown at a faster rate than their male counterparts over the past five years, women-owned small businesses only make up about 30% of all businesses. .”