The Banco Nacional de Investimento (BNI) announced in a statement that on Friday, 9 May, in Maputo, it launched a credit line worth 95 million meticals to finance business initiatives led by women, which is expected to benefit between 500 and 700 Mozambican women entrepreneurs.
Entitled ‘Women’s Fund Credit Line,’ the initiative focuses on companies in the agriculture, poultry, agro-processing, trade, services, and tourism sectors.
‘There is no fixed amount per loan, with the amounts being defined according to the applications submitted,’ explained Ancha Omar, director of BNI’s Commercial and Marketing Department, quoted in a statement from the institution. For small businesses, the maximum amount will be three million meticals, while for medium-sized businesses, loans may vary between 3.5 million and 60 million meticals.
According to the official, this credit line aims to strengthen the role of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in boosting the national economy, promoting the provision of services and adding value to national agricultural production.
There is no fixed amount per loan, with the amounts being defined according to the applications submitted.
‘We designed this credit line because we believe that the Mozambican female entrepreneurship market deserves a concrete opportunity to boost production in agricultural sectors linked to agribusiness and agro-processing, particularly in small industries and services, where women’s participation is significant,’ said Ancha Omar.
Under the theme ‘BNI Empowering Women Leaders’, the initiative aims not only to stimulate female entrepreneurship and its contribution to the country’s economic and social growth, but also to promote access to financing for projects led by women with a direct impact on communities.
It should be noted that BNI has been providing various lines of financing in Mozambique, targeting strategic sectors of the economy, including micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), as well as innovative projects with an impact on sustainable development. Among the initiatives, two credit lines launched in 2020 stand out, in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, to mitigate the effects of the crisis on the national business fabric.
