Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Tweet[IWS] IFC: [CHINA] FIRST INTERNET-BASED GENDER-FINANCE PROGRAM TO BOOST WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP [27 January 2015]
IWS Documented News Service
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Institute for Workplace Studies-----------------Professor Samuel B. Bacharach
School of Industrial & Labor Relations-------- Director, Institute for Workplace Studies
Cornell University
16 East 34th Street, 4th floor--------------------Stuart Basefsky
New York, NY 10016 -------------------------------Director, IWS News Bureau
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International Finance Corporation (IFC)
Press Release 27 January 2015
IFC, Ant Financial Services Group and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women Launch First Internet-based Gender-Finance Program in China to Boost Women Entrepreneurship
Beijing, January 27, 2015 — IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, Ant Financial Services Group, and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women have jointly launched the first internet-based gender-finance program in China as part of a strategic partnership that is expected to expand financing for small businesses and women entrepreneurs to help them grow their online businesses.
IFC – through the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women/IFC Women Entrepreneurs Opportunity Facility, the first-ever global financing facility for women-owned small and medium enterprises - is providing Ant Financial’s microcredit arm Ant Credit a senior loan of RMB500 million. The financing will be used for Ant Credit to expand its lending to women entrepreneurs who often face difficulties in obtaining loans in China. Many of Ant Credit’s clients are women who run businesses on Alibaba Group’s online marketplaces such as Taobao.com and Tmall.com.
“Women are crucial to China's economic development. They have proven to be trustworthy and passionate entrepreneurs,” said Lucy Peng, CEO of Ant Financial Services Group “We have seen multiple successful stories of women entrepreneurs on our platforms and would like to support them by providing the resources they need to grow their business. By collaborating with IFC and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women, we are able to expand our services to more women, empowering them to pursue their career goals and reach their potential.”
Ant Credit, the business division of Ant Financial that provides micro online loans to small businesses and individual entrepreneurs, evaluates potential borrowers' creditworthiness based on their transactional and behavioral data as they do business online. This technology allows Ant Financial to lend without taking securities and assets such as buildings or inventories as guarantees for loans, thereby lowering the threshold for loan disbursements and providing financing to clients who previously stood no chance of obtaining loans.
“Internet technologies can simplify lending procedures and make loans more accessible and affordable for smaller businesses,” said Jin-Yong Cai, IFC’s Executive Vice President and CEO. “Expanding such financing is critical to achieving the World Bank Group’s goal of universal access to financial services by 2020.”
The latest financing followed IFC’s RMB 1 billion senior loan to Ant Credit last year to improve access to finance for micro, small and medium enterprises in China, which marked IFC’s first foray into the country’s burgeoning Internet finance sector. Both loans support IFC’s goals of expanding microfinance and women finance in emerging markets. Ant Financial and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women are equally dedicated to helping small businesses.
“Through the results we have seen from our 10,000 Women program it is clear that empowering and investing in women leads to global growth and prosperous societies”, said John F.W. Rogers, Chairman of the Goldman Sachs Foundation. “Together with our partners we are creating even more opportunities for entrepreneurs and making progress in addressing one of the major obstacles for women-owned small businesses by providing the access to capital they need to thrive and grow.”
As of March 31st 2014, Ant Credit had loaned RMB190 billion for more than 700,000 small and micro-businesses.
Yu Shengfa, Vice President of Ant Financial Services Group added: "This partnership will enable us to tap the expertise and resources of IFC and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women as we continue to work for Chinese micro, small and medium enterprises to help them focus on building their businesses and create jobs."
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