Listed FDH Bank has created a revolving K0.5 billion fund dubbed ‘FDH Amayi Atakate Fund’ to support women owned Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the country to realize their full growth potential.
FDH Bank plc Head of Marketing and Communications Levie Nkunika said the Bank has created the special fund with a purpose to empower and promote women to fulfill their full business potential by providing access to working capital.
“With an estimated female population of 51.5% (NSO,2020), Malawi has over 558,090 women owned micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) (Finscope Survey, 2019) and mostly facing difficulties to access formal credit due to collateral demands and working capital challenges to enable business expansion. This presents a huge unserved market,” said Nkunika.
“To access the fund, the Bank will be giving out ‘FDH Amayi Atakate’ loans. An FDH Amayi Atakate loan is a special loan facility under the fund designed to address access to affordable credit and lack of working capital women owned MSMEs face in their day to day running of their businesses. The loan will be unsecured and will be up to a maximum of K5 million per applicant with a flexible repayment period of 2 years with affordable interest rates,” explained Nkunika.
He said the FDH Amayi Atakate loan will be accessible by women across the country using Malawi’s widest branch network of 51 FDH Bank service centres from Monday 8th march, which coincidentally is the World Women’s Day.
“Together we can create a prosperous and sustainable society by supporting our women in accessing funds for their businesses,” said Nkunika.
He said international and local development instruments highlight the strategic importance of women in any society and their critical role in fostering economic growth and sustainable national development.
“Informed by the aspirations of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, the Africa’s Agenda 2063 and Malawi’s Vision 2063, FDH Bank plc believes that women owned MSMEs in Malawi should be empowered and promoted to nurture and grow their businesses and in turn they will significantly contribute towards the creation of a prosperous and sustainable society.”
“The private sector must complement Government efforts to contribute to job creation and sustainable economic growth in the country,” said Nkunika.
