Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi)

We-Fi is a collaborative partnership among 14 governments, eight multilateral development banks (MDBs), and other public and private sector stakeholders, hosted by the World Bank Group.

We seek to address financial and non-financial constraints faced by women-owned/led small and medium enterprises in developing countries.

The founding financial contributors are: Australia, Canada, China, Denmark, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, the Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, Republic of Korea, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom and the United States. These governments have committed $354 million to date.

We-Fi finances projects, programs, and activities that are aligned with its objectives and principles. Program/project implementation is led by Implementing Partners that are accredited by the We-Fi Governing Committee.

Under the first and second calls for proposals, the following MDBs were eligible to apply as Implementing Partners: the African Development Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the Inter-American Development Bank, IDB Invest, the International Finance Corporation, Islamic Development Bank Group, and the World Bank (the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and the International Development Association). MDBs are encouraged to partner with UN agencies, international financial institutions, civil society organizations, business groups, and/or other entities currently working in this field to help implement activities.