This report, authored by Lara Storm, is an analysis of loans given to women-owned small and medium enterprises through USAID's Development Credit Authority (DCA) loan guarantee program. DCA's loan database covers 70 countries; although the sample size of loans where gender of the firm owner was reported remains small.
Economics, Commerce and Trade Management: An International Journal (ECTIJ)
Unlocking Growth of Women-Owned SMEs Through Credit Guarantees
1.
2. 1 Unlocking Growth Through Credit Guarantees
CONTRACTOR
The QED Group, LLC
1250 Eye Street
Suite 1100
Washington, D.C. 20005
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Lara Storm is the Director of Financial Inclusion at MIX and is responsible for leading MIX’s
growing portfolio of financial inclusion projects. Storm’s rich experience in financial inclusion
and client-centric microfinance started with her work managing client and market research at
ProMujer and prior work accrediting partner MFIs at Catholic Relief Services. Immediately
before joining MIX, she led the Youth-Inclusive Financial Services Linkage program at Making
Cents, developing and managing training curricula and a platform for best practice exchange to
promote appropriate financial services to youth. Storm started her career in Ecuador and then
in New York as a credit ratings analyst with Fitch Ratings. She holds a Masters of International
Affairs from Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs and a B.A. in
Spanish and Geography from the University of California, Davis.
3. Unlocking Growth Through Credit Guarantees 2
UNLOCKING GROWTH THROUGH CREDIT GUARANTEES:
An overview analysis of loans to woman-owned SMEs
4. 3 Unlocking Growth Through Credit Guarantees
CONTENTS
ACRONYMS.......................................................................................................................................................................4
LIST OF TABLES................................................................................................................................................................5
LIST OF FIGURES..............................................................................................................................................................6
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY..................................................................................................................................................7
BACKGROUND .............................................................................................................................................................10
RATIONALE.....................................................................................................................................................................10
ABOUT THE DATA.......................................................................................................................................................11
SECTOR ANALYSIS .......................................................................................................................................................17
BUSINESS SIZE ANALYSIS ...........................................................................................................................................21
FIRST-TIME BORROWER ANALYSIS.......................................................................................................................23
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................................................27
RECOMMENDATIONS FOR USAID ........................................................................................................................28
ANNEXES .........................................................................................................................................................................29
5. Unlocking Growth Through Credit Guarantees 4
ACRONYMS
DCA Development Credit Authority
DRC Democratic Republic of Congo
E&E Europe and Eurasia
FY Fiscal Year
ICT Information and Communications Technology
IFC International Finance Corporation
LAC Latin American and the Caribbean
MENA Middle East and North Africa
MFI Microfinance Institution
MPEP Microenterprise and Private Enterprise Promotion office
MSMEs Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises
NGO Non-Governmental Organization
SMEs Small and Medium Enterprises
UN United Nations
USAID United States Agency for International Development
WLSME Women’s Leadership in Small and Medium Enterprises
6. 5 Unlocking Growth Through Credit Guarantees
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1: DCA Portfolio Overview (FY 1999 – 2012).............................................................................................11
Table 2: Median Loan Size (US$) by Gender and Business Size..........................................................................12
Table 3: Arrears as % of Total Number of SME Loans, by Region......................................................................16
Table 4: Median Loan Size (US$) and Median Tenor (months)............................................................................17
Table 5: Ownership as % of Total SME Loans, by Gender and Sector...............................................................18
Table 6: Comparison of Median Loan Size and Tenor, by Gender and Sector................................................19
Table 7: Distribution of Arrears, by Gender and Sector (% of loans > 30 days past due)............................20
Table 8: Proportion of Loans Made to SMEs............................................................................................................21
Table 9: Median Loan Size (US$), by Gender and Business Size..........................................................................22
Table 10: % of Total Arrears > 30 Days, by Gender and Business Size.............................................................22
Table 11: Comparison of First-Time Borrowers, by Sector.................................................................................24
Table 12: Repeat vs. First-Time Borrowers, by Number of Employees ............................................................25
Table 13: Percentage of Loans Made to First-Time and Repeat Borrowers.....................................................26
Table 14: Distribution of Loans, by Country and Gender (number of loans per country)...........................30
Table 15: Loan Size Distribution, by Gender of Borrower's Firm Ownership.................................................33
Table 16: % Distribution of DCA SME Portfolio, by Gender and Country.......................................................34
Table 17: Gender Breakdown of DCA-backed SME Loans, by Country (% country-specific loan
portfolio)............................................................................................................................................................................37
Table 18: Portfolio Allocation, by Country and Gender (US$)............................................................................40
Table 19: Portfolio Allocation, by Country and Gender (% of total, US$523.3 million)................................43
Table 20: Country Portfolio Distribution, by Gender............................................................................................46
Table 21: Number of First-time/Repeat Borrowers, by Country (women-owned SMEs).............................49
Table 22: Division of First-Time/Repeat Borrowers, by Country (women-owned SMEs)............................51
Table 23: Number of First-Time/Repeat Borrowers, by Country (men-owned SMEs) .................................53
Table 24: Division of First-Time/Repeat Borrowers, by Country (men-owned SMEs)..................................55
Table 25: Distribution of First-Time Borrowers, by Sector and Gender ..........................................................57
7. Unlocking Growth Through Credit Guarantees 6
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1: Number of Loans, by Gender of Ownership...........................................................................................12
Figure 2: Portfolio Value, by Gender of Ownership ...............................................................................................13
Figure 3: Number of Men-owned SME Loans, According to Number of Employees.....................................13
Figure 4: Number of Women-owned SME Loans, According to Number of Employees..............................13
Figure 5: Breakdown of Number of Loans, by Region and Gender....................................................................15
Figure 6: Portfolio Value Breakdown by Region and Gender...............................................................................15
Figure 7: Loans to First-time Borrowers ...................................................................................................................23
Figure 8: Distribution of Women-owned SME (out of 176 loans > 30 days past due) ..................................33
8. 7 Unlocking Growth Through Credit Guarantees
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1 IFC-McKinsey Report, 2011.
2 IFC-McKinsey Report, 2011.
3 IFC-McKinsey Report, 2011.
4 Bardasi, et al., 2007; Demigurc-Kunts, et al., 2008; Diagne, 2000; Ellist et al., 2007; GEM, IFC, 2005, Faisel, 2004;
Rose, 1992; ILO/AfDB, 2004, Goheer, 2003, Narain, 2007; Rischardons, et al, 2004.
5 To support the work that is being done, and that has already been done, in the areas of gender and SME development,
USAID’s Microenterprise & Private Enterprise Promotion Office (MPEP) launched the Women’s Leadership in SMEs
online community platform, www.wlsme.org. The site allows practitioners in the development community to further the
discussion around these issues and to generate a growing body of knowledge on how to address limitations to women’s
SME growth.
6 To see more explanation behind the SME definition for this report, please see Section 3.
9. Unlocking Growth Through Credit Guarantees 8
7 D’Espallier, Guérin and Mersland, 2009. Women and Repayment in Microfinance.
8 IFC-McKinsey Report, 2011.
9 As previously stated, the definition of SME for the purposes of this report will use a dollar value (>US$2,000) rather
than number of employees, since 40% of all guaranteed loans reported in the DCA database do not have information on
number of employees.
10 17.5% of the SME loans do not report on first-time borrower status.
10. 9 Unlocking Growth Through Credit Guarantees
11 5.9% of men-owned SME loans do not report on first-time borrower status.
12 2.8% of women-owned SME loans do not report on first-time borrower status.
13 Because of data quality issues, this study could not analyze interest rates and collateral requirements by gender of the
SME owner.
11. Unlocking Growth Through Credit Guarantees 10
1. BACKGROUND
2. RATIONALE
www.wlsme.org
14 The IFC-McKinsey Report uses the following MSME definitions: micro (1-4 employees), very small (5-9 employees),
small (10-49 employees), and medium enterprises (50-250 employees).
15 IFC-McKinsey Report, 2011.
16 Bardasi, et al.. 2007; Demigurc-Kunt, et al., 2008; Diagne, 2000; Ellis et al., GEM, IFC, 2005, Faisel, 2004; Rose, 1992;
ILO/AfDB, 2004; Goheer, 2003: Narain, 2007; Richardson, et al., 2004.
17 IFC-McKinsey Report, 2011.
18 UN Millennium Development Goal #3, http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/gender.shtml
19 Baliamoune-Lutz and McFillivray, 2007 UNECA.
12. 11 Unlocking Growth Through Credit Guarantees
Table 1: DCA Portfolio Overview (FY 1999 – 2012)
3. ABOUT THE DATA
Number of Guarantees 344
Private Capital Mobilized US$2,733,084,131
Actual Disbursements US$1,123,620,048
Subsidy Cost US$117,791,294
Net Claims Paid US$10,471,787
Fees Received US$11,827,270
Net Default Rate 1.8%
Utilization Rate (Expired Guarantees) 81%
Number of Borrowers 130,298
Average Loan Size US$8,623
Number of Risk Sharing Partners 259
Countries with DCA Guarantees 70
Leverage 23
13. Unlocking Growth Through Credit Guarantees 12
GLOBAL RESULTS
20 Please see Table 25 in the Appendix for loan size distribution by gender of the borrower’s owner. This analysis also
disregards some loans under the Housing category, which went to individuals rather than SMEs, and loans under the
Infrastructure category, which went to municipalities and other public entities.
22 The DCA may offer multiple guarantees in a country, each with different intents, terms, and lending partners.
22 For 14.2 percent of loans, lenders did not report on gender of ownership.
Table 2: Median Loan Size (US$) by Gender and
Business Size
Size
Women-
owned
SMEs
Men-
owned
SMEs
Overall
>100 Employees 112,659 416,000 336,115
51-100 Employees 89,090 82,645 82,645
11-50 Employees 17,403 8,573 10,171
6-10 Employees 8,507 3,889 3,947
1-5 Employees 697 1,680 1,189
No Employees 770 911 877
Figure 1: Number of Loans by Gender
of Ownership
Men-
owned,
67.72%
Women
-owned,
18.10%
N/A,
14.17%
14. 13 Unlocking Growth Through Credit Guarantees
23 For 8.6 percent of portfolio value, lenders did not report on gender of ownership.
24 IFC-McKinsey Report, 2011
Figure 2: Portfolio Value by Gender of
Ownership (US$523.2 million)
Men-
owned,
81.64%
Women
-owned,
9.76%
N/A,
8.60%
15. Unlocking Growth Through Credit Guarantees 14
REGIONAL FOCUS
25 D’Espallier, Guérin and Mersland, 2011.
26 Hundley, 2001.
27 World Bank Agriculture Resource Book, 2008, ibid, de Janvry and other, 2006, World Bank, 2004.
28 IFC-McKinsey Report, 2011
16. 15 Unlocking Growth Through Credit Guarantees
29 3.93% of the portfolio does not list region, but instead is listed as “worldwide,” representing some guarantees to
organizations that operate globally.
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
AFRICA ASIA E&E LAC MENA Worldwide
N/A
Women-owned SMEs
Men-owned SMEs
Figure 6: Portfolio Value Breakdown by Region and Gender
%ofPortfolio(outofUS$523.3million)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
AFRICA ASIA E&E LAC MENA Worldwide
N/A
Women-owned SMEs
Men-owned SMEs
Figure 5: Breakdown of Number of Loans by Region and Gender
%ofLoans(outof19,599)
17. Unlocking Growth Through Credit Guarantees 16
Table 3: Arrears as % of Total Number of SME Loans, by Region
Region
Women-owned
SMEs
Men-owned
SMEs
Gender of ownership
unknown
Overall
average
Africa 4.0% 3.7% 1.8% 3.3%
Asia 6.3% 7.7% 0.0% 7.4%
E&E 4.5% 6.1% 3.1% 5.0%
LAC 4.9% 6.4% 3.3% 5.7%
MENA — — — —
Overall average 5.0% 5.8% 3.0% 5.3%
30 Lending partners in Bulgaria and Mali did not report on gender of ownership.
31 Armenia, Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Jordan, Philippines, South Sudan, Sri Lanka, Togo, West Bank/Gaza, Zimbabwe
18. 17 Unlocking Growth Through Credit Guarantees
Table 4: Median Loan Size (US$) and Median Tenor (months)
Region
Women-owned
SMEs
Men-owned
SMEs
Women-owned
SMEs
Men-owned
SMEs
Africa $ 6,506.51 $ 4,463.03 12.0 24.0
Asia $ 5,291.01 $ 5,291.01 36.0 35.0
E&E $ 3,260.87 $ 6,468.31 48.1 36.0
LAC $ 3,285.87 $ 4,082.21 15.1 12.6
MENA — $ 170,338.98 — 35.1
4. SECTOR ANALYSIS
32 Amin, 2010.
33 FAO, 2011.
19. Unlocking Growth Through Credit Guarantees 18
Table 5: Ownership as % of Total SME Loans, by Gender and Sector
Sector
Men-owned
SMEs
Women-owned
SMEs
Gender not
specified
Total value by
sector
Agriculture 65.46% 37.26% 51.40% 58.37%
Trade/Commerce 17.32% 36.64% 19.33% 21.10%
Manufacturing 5.46% 9.78% 19.08% 8.17%
Other Service 4.23% 7.67% 0.40% 4.31%
Education 1.23% 3.80% 0.22% 1.55%
Tourism 0.64% 1.01% 0.14% 0.64%
Not reported 1.85% 0.87% 7.27% 2.44%
Transportation 0.78% 0.73% 0.36% 0.71%
Health 1.08% 0.59% 0.29% 0.88%
Fisheries/Aquaculture 0.45% 0.54% 0.25% 0.44%
Construction 0.74% 0.42% 0.83% 0.69%
Information and Communications
Technology
0.32% 0.31% 0.18% 0.30%
Forestry/Wood 0.29% 0.28% 0.22% 0.28%
Energy 0.15% 0.08% 0.04% 0.12%
Grand Total 100.00% 100.00% 100.00% 100.00%
34 Please see Annex 1 for sector definitions in DCA loan reporting.
21. Unlocking Growth Through Credit Guarantees 20
Table 7: Distribution of Arrears, by Gender and Sector (% of loans > 30 days past due)
Sector
Men-owned
SMEs
Women-
owned SMEs
Gender not
specified
Total value
by sector
Agriculture 7.2% 8.7% 3.7% 6.9%
Construction 5.1% — — 3.7%
Education 6.1% 6.7% — 6.3%
Energy 5.0% — 100.0% 8.3%
Fisheries/Aquaculture 5.0% 5.3% — 4.7%
Forestry/Wood 7.7% — — 5.5%
Health 2.1% 14.3% — 3.5%
Information & Communication Technologies — — — —
Manufacturing 3.4% 2.9% 1.3% 2.6%
Other Service 2.9% 0.7% — 2.1%
Tourism 5.9% 11.1% — 7.2%
Trade/Commerce 2.3% 2.3% 2.0% 2.3%
Transportation 3.9% 3.8% — 3.6%
Not Reported 6.9% 3.2% 5.4% 6.1%
Overall Average 5.8% 5.0% 3.0% 5.3%
22. 21 Unlocking Growth Through Credit Guarantees
5. BUSINESS SIZE ANALYSIS
35 IFC-McKinsey Report, 2011.
36 Given the relatively small loan size used to define SMEs in this analysis, it is perhaps not surprising that loans made to
borrowers with 0 or 1–5 employees comprise the majority of the portfolio across ownership gender.
Table 8: Proportion of Loans Made to SMEs
Number of
employees
Men-
owned
borrowers
Women-
owned
borrowers
Gender not
specified
Overall
Average
0 34.3% 36.0% 3.3% 30.2%
1–5 43.3% 45.2% 25.2% 41.1%
6–10 8.1% 4.6% 0.0% 6.3%
11–50 9.9% 6.1% 0.1% 7.8%
51–100 0.6% 0.6% 0.0% 0.5%
>100 0.4% 0.3% 0.0% 0.3%
Not
Reported
3.5% 7.2% 71.4% 13.8%
Grand Total 100.0% 100.0% 100.0% 100.0%
23. Unlocking Growth Through Credit Guarantees 22
Table 10: % of Total Arrears > 30 Days, by Gender and Business Size
Size (# of Employees)
Men-owned
SMEs
Women-owned
SMEs
Gender not
specified
Total
0 1.60% 0.39% 0.04% 2.02%
1–5 1.75% 0.37% 0.07% 2.19%
6–10 0.20% 0.02% 0.00% 0.22%
11–50 0.29% 0.06% 0.00% 0.34%
51–100 0.00% 0.02% 0.00% 0.02%
>100 0.02% 0.01% 0.00% 0.03%
Not reported 0.07% 0.04% 0.32% 0.43%
Total 3.93% 0.90% 0.42% 5.25%
Table 9: Median Loan Size (US$), by Gender and Business Size
Size (# of Employees) Women-owned SMEs Men-owned SMEs Overall
0 $3,409 $4,631 $4,233
1–5 $3,636 $3,745 $3,717
6–10 $12,151 $5,017 $5,769
11–50 $24,451 $10,669 $13,548
51–100 $98,814 $82,645 $82,713
>100 $112,659 $465,310 $350,000
24. 23 Unlocking Growth Through Credit Guarantees
6. FIRST-TIME BORROWER ANALYSIS
37 DCA defines a first-time borrower as an individual who is borrowing from a specific institution for the first time.
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
90.0%
PercentageofallSMEloans
Men-owned
Women-owned
N/A
Figure 7: Loans to First-time Borrowers
Borrowers
25. Unlocking Growth Through Credit Guarantees 24
Table 11: Comparison of First-Time Borrowers, by Sector
Sector
Repeat
Borrowers
First-time
Borrowers
Gender not
specified
Total
Fisheries/Aquaculture 34.88% 56.98% 8.14% 100.00%
Tourism 45.60% 52.80% 1.60% 100.00%
Other Service 47.04% 50.59% 2.37% 100.00%
Agriculture 30.85% 50.36% 18.79% 100.00%
Education 56.91% 42.76% 0.33% 100.00%
ICT 55.93% 42.37% 1.69% 100.00%
Energy 62.50% 33.33% 4.17% 100.00%
Trade/Commerce 56.87% 33.17% 9.96% 100.00%
Forestry/Wood 69.09% 29.09% 1.82% 100.00%
Transportation 69.06% 28.06% 2.88% 100.00%
Health 29.65% 19.77% 50.58% 100.00%
Construction 76.47% 17.65% 5.88% 100.00%
Manufacturing 51.31% 15.23% 33.46% 100.00%
Not reported 52.30% 5.44% 42.26% 100.00%
Grand Total 40.55% 41.95% 17.51% 100.00%
26. 25 Unlocking Growth Through Credit Guarantees
Table 12: Repeat vs. First-Time Borrowers, by Number of Employees
Number of employees
of SME borrower
Repeat
borrowers
First-time
borrowers
Loan history not
reported
Grand Total
0 52.9% 45.3% 1.9% 100.0%
1–5 40.0% 42.6% 17.3% 100.0%
6-–10 43.2% 51.7% 5.1% 100.0%
11–50 47.5% 50.1% 2.4% 100.0%
51–100 65.7% 33.3% 1.0% 100.0%
>100 39.1% 60.9% 0.0% 100.0%
Number not reported 9.0% 23.5% 67.5% 100.0%
Grand Total 40.5% 41.9% 17.5% 100.0%
27. Unlocking Growth Through Credit Guarantees 26
Table 13: Percentage of Loans Made to First-Time and Repeat Borrowers
Gender of ownership &
number of employees
Repeat
borrowers
First-time
borrowers
Loan history
not reported
Grand Total
Men-owned SMEs 44.7% 49.4% 5.9% 100.0%
0 53.8% 45.7% 0.5% 100.0%
1–5 41.1% 47.8% 11.1% 100.0%
6–10 40.9% 53.7% 5.4% 100.0%
11–50 45.1% 52.1% 2.8% 100.0%
51–100 73.2% 26.8% 0.0% 100.0%
>100 32.7% 67.3% 0.0% 100.0%
Number not reported 4.7% 89.5% 5.8% 100.0%
Women-owned SMEs 50.5% 46.7% 2.8% 100.0%
0 53.1% 46.9% 0.0% 100.0%
1–5 53.8% 42.8% 3.4% 100.0%
6–10 58.5% 38.4% 3.0% 100.0%
11–50 61.8% 37.8% 0.5% 100.0%
51–100 35.0% 60.0% 5.0% 100.0%
>100 77.8% 22.2% 0.0% 100.0%
Number not reported 2.0% 83.2% 14.8% 100.0%
Gender not reported 8.0% 0.4% 91.6% 100.0%
0 4.4% 1.1% 94.5% 100.0%
1–5 0.1% 0.0% 99.9% 100.0%
11–50 33.3% 66.7% 0.0% 100.0%
Number not reported 10.9% 0.4% 88.7% 100.0%
Overall average 40.5% 41.9% 17.5% 100.0%