Women’s Access to Finance – Bangladesh
Over the last two decades, the focus of development policy initiatives to reduce poverty in Bangladesh have undergone a significant shift. Known as the “inclusive finance” approach, these new initiatives advocate for a “Finance for All (FFA)” approach to bring excluded populations into the realm of mainstream banking, developing new schemes for ensuring better access to financial credit, and educating them about various financial products and services which may help them in making informed decisions. In the context of Bangladesh, the impact of these initiatives has already been felt, and over the years significant efforts have been made to facilitate the level and extent of financial inclusion of the poor into the mainstream banking sector. This paper focuses on key barriers faced by women entrepreneurs in gaining access to markets and becoming engaged in different business ventures.
