The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the JPMorgan Chase Foundation joined forces to support particularly women-led micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in Türkiye, according to a statement released by the bank on June 10.
The EBRD and JP Morgan Chase Foundation will co-finance Turkish women entrepreneurs as part of EBRD’s Women in Business program. It is the first time that a philanthropic foundation has joined the bank in its mission to lend support to women’s participation in the economy.
With the allocated financing, a brand-new digital platform will be launched that will allow Turkish women in business to find solutions to the problems they encounter in terms of know-how and opportunities.
Supporting women-led businesses is one of the EBRD’s priorities across its regions, and the bank makes use of Business Lens, an online tool to pinpoint the advantages and possible opportunities of the enterprises. Out of more than 7,000 global women entrepreneurs supported via Business Lens, 2,500 are Türkiye-based.
“Higher participation of women in the economy and closing the gender gap is expected to increase the country’s overall prosperity,” read a statement from the bank. Similarly, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan formerly introduced a series of financing regulations to encourage women with children to participate in the workforce.
In the last 11 years, the EBRD has invested more than EUR 12 billion across numerous sectors in Türkiye. The bank’s Türkiye portfolio currently stands at EUR 7 billion, which makes it the largest among the 38 economies that the bank makes investments in.