IFC, BII to expand financial access for Indonesian Women and SMEs

Microfinance Focus, Sep 24, 2010: PT Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII) and International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, have signed a cooperation agreement to enhance the bank’s products and services towards female entrepreneurs, allowing women to obtain financing for their businesses more easily.

 As part of the Cooperation Agreement, IFC Indonesia will advise BII and will assist BII to improve its reach to both the small medium enterprises and women entrepreneurs. BII is an existing IFC client and currently has 286 branches and 876 BII’s automated teller machines and 15 cash deposit machines across Indonesia.

“We welcome the partnership with IFC and their support for our business expansion in SMEC segment. With its reputation and extensive experience in SME business, IFC will provide assistance for us in developing SME for women entrepreneurs in Indonesia,” said Ridha Wirakusumah, President Director of BII. “The SME and Commercial segment, we believe, is the backbone of the Indonesian economy and we hope that through this partnership will strengthen our contribution to this sector. The SME/Commercial segment has contributed 37% of our total loans as of June 2010, and will remain one of our key focus businesses going forward,” he added.

Indonesian women entrepreneurs are facing many challenges in terms of their business size and location. More than 90 percent of women-owned or managed small medium enterprises used their own savings to establish their business. Most of them are located outside Jakarta and 82 percent of women-owned or managed small medium enterprises have monthly revenue of less than $ 5,000.

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