In mid-FY23, CARE Australia is launching a pilot program, developing a microfinance digital platform to provide loans to MSMEs in Vietnam and targeting funding from values-aligned Australian businesses as well as individual lenders and donors.
In Asia and the Pacific, small to medium businesses often lack access to formal financing, and therefore, are unable to scale their businesses beyond subsistence level. This particularly affects women who are less likely to be able to access finance or when they are able to access finance are given access to lower levels of finance than men.
This project aims to catalyse everyday Australians and businesses to support micro and small-medium enterprises (MSMEs) in emerging economies to maintain and grow their businesses through the provision of microfinance loans.
The demand for microloans and other microfinancing products is large and growing in the Asia Pacific region, with female-run MSMEs in particular lacking the access to formal financing to sustain or grow their operations.
Project Objectives:
- Women have improved access and control over economic resources
- Create new, non-traditional sources of funding to drive impact
- Establish a platform that can be used to connect Australians to other impact driven initiatives in the future to support climate justice and resilience to humanitarian crises
Direct beneficiaries:
Initially, around 2,428 loans at an average loan value of AUD$100 will be targeted, scaling to over 38,000 loans and $6m of loan revenue per annum by 2029.
Indirect beneficiaries:
Based on CARE UK’s impact assessment following microlending operations in Vietnam for over 10 years they estimate for every 1 woman assisted an additional 3.1 household members directly benefit. This equates to 7,257 by FY23 and 412,000 by FY29.
Economic Justice Outcomes:
- Increased financial inclusion through development of new financial products, operating models and distribution channels
- Increased employment opportunities and improved access to skill development
- Diversification of capital sources allowing for flexible access to capital
Gender Equality Outcomes:
- Improved access to savings, credit and insurance products tailored to women in high growth businesses
- Increased flexibility in credit processes and lending methods to women-led MSMEs
Climate Justice Outcomes:
- Increased investment in businesses involved in climate risk mitigation, climate resilience and adaptation
- Increasing coverage of community catastrophe insurance schemes
CARE will provide annual impact reports, reporting against the project's outcomes:
- Microfinancing Key Success Indicators
- # and % of women with increased capability to participate equitably in economic activities.
- # of MSME entrepreneurs who have used a new financial product (women/men)
- $ value of financial capital provided by Financial Service Providers to new women entrepreneur clients
CARE Australia is a leading international aid organisation that works around the globe to save lives and defeat poverty. CARE Australia works to defeat global poverty by supporting women to create lasting change in their communities around the world. Our programs focus on women because we know that when one woman breaks free from poverty, she brings another four people with her — and that’s a powerful multiplier. We work in partnership with local community leaders to prepare for, respond to, and recover from humanitarian crises and shock. And we support people to determine their own futures by challenging unjust systems that keep people in poverty. Our poverty-fighting programs work to provide equal opportunities for women that they have long been denied: the ability to earn an income, gain access to their fair share of resources, to lead and participate in decisions that affect their lives, and to be able to withstand the increasing impacts of climate disasters and other crises. CARE Australia is one member of the global CARE Confederation, working with communities all over the world — every one of us tightly focused on where we can each best support local communities to defeat poverty and social inequality.
The gender lens makes perfect sense. It reflects the kind of due diligence framework I have observed time and again in the asset management world.
Also known as Australian Women Donors Network (ABN: 28 141 197 471), Australians Investing in Women is a registered charity endorsed by the Australian Tax Office as a deductible gift recipient (DGR1) under a special listing, all donations over $2 are tax deductible.