The Graça Machel Trust (GMT) says sustained policy advocacy is helping remove barriers that hinder women entrepreneurs from accessing finance, markets and other opportunities to grow their businesses.
The Trust made the remarks in Lilongwe on Thursday during an advocacy outcome-tracking consultative workshop to assess the impact of interventions aimed at strengthening the business environment for women entrepreneurs in Malawi.
For the past three years, GMT, in partnership with the Comesa Federation of Women in Business (COMFWB), has implemented the Women Creating Wealth (WCW) programme, which supports women-owned small businesses to scale up, become profitable and create wealth.
GMT Advocacy and Adolescent Movement Manager Juliet Kimotho said advocacy has been a key component of the programme, with the Trust working through business networks to engage government and other stakeholders on policies affecting women entrepreneurs.
“For the last three years under the flagship Women Creating Wealth programme, we have been working through the networks with the Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Gender, the Public Procurement and Disposal of Assets Authority (PPDA) and other government and non-government players to understand whether the policy environment is conducive for women entrepreneurs,” she said.
Kimotho said the advocacy has focused on challenges including regulatory compliance, public procurement, access to finance, training, mentorship and markets.
She said the programme has also engaged financial institutions and other stakeholders to influence the development of financial products and interventions tailored to the needs of women entrepreneurs.
“Women have often been labelled high-risk borrowers, but through the WCW programme they have been provided with training to strengthen their businesses and demonstrate their creditworthiness to financial institutions,” she said.
Kimotho said strengthening the ecosystem for women entrepreneurs remains critical to ensuring that women-owned businesses can access the finance, markets and other opportunities needed for sustainable growth.
COMFWB Malawi Chapter chairperson Selina Mwenelupembe said partnerships with various stakeholders had helped women entrepreneurs become investment-ready and establish links with financial institutions.
“We have support from various stakeholders, starting from the banks and other NGOs, but also the business associations and the women entrepreneurs themselves are very forthcoming and willing to improve their businesses,” she said.
She cited an engagement with Centenary Bank as one of the outcomes of the partnerships, saying the bank is now able to offer unsecured loans and group lending to women entrepreneurs.
Mwenelupembe said the workshop provided an opportunity for stakeholders to assess progress, share lessons and renew their commitment to empowering women.
“We want to look back at what we have achieved. We want to compare where we were and where we are now as different stakeholders who play different roles,” she said.
Meanwhile, CI Foods chief executive officer Yvonne Chanika said initiatives by COMFWB, WCW and GMT were helping women entrepreneurs improve their business management skills, access finance and expand their enterprises.
Chanika said the programmes were also helping to change perceptions that women are high-risk borrowers by equipping them with skills to manage their businesses and finances effectively.
“These institutions are training us to manage our businesses and finances. If you manage your business properly, I don’t think you can fail to repay a loan, and that has been the biggest lesson for women-led enterprises,” she said.
