Prime Highlights-
- Global Gender-Smart Fund and Unibank sign a $15 million loan deal to support women-led businesses.
- The facility aims to close the funding gap for women entrepreneurs across Azerbaijan.
Key Facts-
- Incofin Investment Management arranged the agreement, backed by Innpact Fund Management’s oversight of GGSF.
- Unibank plans to design new financial products and offer financial literacy training for women entrepreneurs.
Background-
Global Gender-Smart Fund S.A., SICAV, a Luxembourg-registered investment fund, has joined hands with Unibank Commercial Bank in Azerbaijan to sign a loan deal worth $15 million, aimed at widening financial access for women-owned and women-led businesses across the country.
Incofin Investment Management put the deal together, delivering the loan facility in Azerbaijani Manat to help close the funding gap many female entrepreneurs face while pushing gender-smart economic growth further across Azerbaijan.
Heybat Gadirov, Acting Chairman of the Management Board of Unibank, called the partnership a major step forward in widening financial inclusion in Azerbaijan.
He said the collaboration backs Unibank’s commitment to offering tailored financial resources to women-owned and women-led businesses, helping them scale, innovate and add real value to the national economy.
Etienne de Belloy, Associate Director for Fund Management at Innpact Fund Management, said the Global Gender-Smart Fund centers on gender-smart financing built to empower women and lift livelihoods.
He added that Unibank’s gender action plan, which covers designing new financial products for women and running financial literacy training, makes sure the funding reaches women borrowers in a responsible and meaningful way.
The Global Gender-Smart Fund stands as the world’s largest gender-focused investment vehicle, offering debt financing to financial institutions in developing countries to widen access to responsible financial services for underserved women.
Innpact Fund Management runs the fund together with three experienced portfolio managers, while Incofin Investment Management handles the origination and oversight of this particular partnership with Unibank.
