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Women Entrepreneurs Opportunity Facility

In 2014, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women partnered with International Finance Corporation (IFC) to establish the Women Entrepreneurs Opportunity Facility (WEOF), the first-of-its-kind venture to support entrepreneurs and SMEs in developing countries and emerging markets around the world.

Leveraging the resources, reach, and expertise of IFC and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women, WEOF was created to expand and deepen financing for SMEs in developing countries, empower entrepreneurs through access to capital and expertise, and demonstrate the commercial viability of investing in emerging entrepreneurs by attracting external investors.

WEOF Impact
$3 billion invested in financial institutions for entrepreneurs – more than four times the initial goal of $600 million. This funding contributed to a $7.5bn increase in volume of loans on-lent by financial institutions to SMEs.
Reached over 218,000 SMEs, beating our 100,000 goal
Invested in 98 financial institutions across 56 countries
$900 million mobilized from external investors
As a result of WEOF, financial institutions are increasing both their total loan portfolios, as well as the value of loans to SMEs.
Progress Report
In October 2019, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women released the WEOF Progress Report. This report takes a look at the first five years of our first-of-its-kind finance facility dedicated to entrepreneurs globally.
Read Report
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