从抵押品到现金流：扩大尼日利亚女性企业主的融资渠道

FROM COLLATERAL TO CASHFLOW:EXPANDING ACCESSTO FINANCE FOR NIGERIA’S FEMALE BUSINESS OWNERSPublic Disclosure Authorized Authors: Ariel Gruver, Tricia Koroknay-Palicz, Sreelakshmi Papineni, Sarmad Shaikh, and Siegfried Zottel SUMMARY This case study was produced bytheWorld Bank’s Africa GenderInnovation Lab (GIL) and Finance,Competitiveness,and Innovation(FCI)Global Practice.The casestudyprovides insights from theNigeriaWomenEntrepreneursFinanceInitiative(We-Fi)projectpreviously led by Siegfried Zottelandnow led by Hadija Kamayo(both World Bank, Senior FinancialSector Specialists). We thank JanaMalinska and the FCI CompetitivePolicyEvaluation Lab(ComPEL)fortheir expertise and insights,especiallyAna Goicoechea;andthe World Bank Umbrella FacilityforGender Equality(UFGE)forfunding. We also thank the team atAccess Bank, especially, ChiomaOgwoand Oluchi Samuel;andearly support from Ayo Olojede andOlaitanAlao.The authors thankthe contributions of Josephine IjereandNneka Okoh who providedexcellent research management. Women in Nigeria are starting and growing businesses at a remarkable rateoffering a vast untapped market for business lending. The World Bank, throughits Nigeria Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi)1, partnered with theDevelopment Bank of Nigeria (DBN) and two commercial banks in Nigeria –Access Bank and Sterling Bank – to develop innovative credit solutions thatexpand access to finance for women entrepreneurs. These credit solutionsreduce reliance on collateral in lending decisions by leveraging data to assesscredit-worthiness and manage risk. Gender inequality in ownership of assets thatcan serve as collateral is one of the main barriers faced by women entrepreneursin accessing finance in Nigeria and beyond. Access Bank’s cashflow-basedlending product for small- and medium-enterprises (SMEs), for example, usesanalysis of business bank account transaction data to determine loan eligibilityand provide collateral free loans to business owners. Such approaches havethe potential to unlock commercial finance for women entrepreneurs.2Public Disclosure Authorized This case study summarizes key lessons from this work, including an initialdiagnostic; an assessment of demand for business loans; analysis of SMEswho applied to and/or received Access Bank cashflow loans; and administrativedata from Access Bank’s cashflow loan program. Our objective is to provideinsights into the successes and challenges of disbursing loans to women-ledSMEs (WSMEs) in Nigeria. This research is being conducted in partnership withthe World Bank’s Africa Gender Innovation Lab (GIL)3, which is also carryingout an impact evaluation that will capture how cashflow-based lending impactsmale- vs female-led firms’ access to credit and business performance.Public Disclosure Authorized The Africa Gender Innovation Labconducts impact evaluations andrigorousresearch to figure outwhat works and what does not toimprove gender equality and usesthis evidence to shape policy. https://www.worldbank.org/en/programs/africa-gender-innovation-lab MOTIVATION: WHAT IS THE PROBLEM? personal savings, as formal channels meet only 18%of MSME’s credit needs. Furthermore, less than 1%of commercial bank loans in Nigeria go to MSMEs,as compared to an average of 15% recorded in otherdevelopingcountries.Roughly 46%of women-led SMEs (WSMEs) in Nigeria have no loan historywith a financial institution. While 31.4% of womenin Nigeria borrow in some capacity to finance theirbusiness, only 3.7% borrow from formal financialservice providers.8Gender gaps in access to creditplay a central role in explaining the gender gap inbusiness performance. Firms run by women havelower profits and sales, fewer employees, lowerproductivity, and slower growth relative to male-ledfirms.9 In Nigeria, roughly half (40%) of the micro-, small-and medium-enterprises (MSMEs) are owned bywomen.4Access to finance remains a challengeand ranks among Nigeria’s entrepreneurs topconcerns, particularly for women entrepreneurs.5More female-led than male-led firms identify accessto finance as a major constraint (52% vs 30%),and 56% of female entrepreneurs indicated thattheir most recent loan application got rejected, ascompared to 17% of male entrepreneurs.6 While women business leaders show significantinterest in taking loans, they receive a smallerallocationof bank credit compared to men.A World Bank survey found that while up to 92%ofWSMEs were interested in obtaining formalfinancing, only 11% of the surveyed banks’ MSMEloan portfolio was going to women-led businesses.7The primary source of MSME funding in Nigeria is Amajor contributing factor to gender gapsin access to credit are gender inequalities inownership of assets that can serve as collateral.For instance,only 11% of women versus 41% of WHAT WAS DONE? men in Nigeria own a house.10 Nigerian financialinstitutions (FIs) commonly use the value of thecollateral that the prospective borrower can bringto the table both to decid