DFC Partners with NIME to Boost Financial Inclusion for Women Entrepreneurs

The Development Finance Corporation (DFC) has partnered with the Belize International Network for Women in Business (NIME) to increase financial inclusion in Belize’s business sector. This morning, the entities inked an agreement to enhance access to finance for female entrepreneurs. The DFC will provide NIME members with financial resources and assistance with business development among other benefits. NIME President Katia Montenegro-Hoare spoke to our newsroom about the significance of the collaboration and how it will positively impact its 220 members.

Katia Montenegro-Hoare, NIME President: “This of course marks a milestone for our journey in empowering women in business and fostering economic development in Belize. This collaboration will not only allow our members to have a more structured way to access financing but also it will allow us to cocreate and collaborate in different programs and initiatives together in terms of financial inclusion, mentorship, advocacy and different programs that will benefit them in order to succeed in business. We know that one of the main challenges for businesses, and specifically for women-owned businesses, is the access to finances. So our aim through this collaboration is to work together so that we can design different programs and products that address the specific needs of women in business. The collaboration will also allow us to go through a process with the members and with women-owned businesses in order for them to go through the different procedures that they need to address in order to be able to access financing. Through the collaboration, we will be going into boot camps, mentorship, and different programs that will allow women to have a better understanding of what is needed and how they can go from the informal economy to the formal economy and then be able to access financing.”

The DFC’s Chief Executive Officer Henry Anderson explained that the development bank felt it was imperative to work with NIME to support the development of women-led businesses to create jobs and grow the economy.

Henry Anderson, Chief Executive Officer, DFC: “It fits right in into the vision DFC has. Over the past three years, and I said when we were signing the MOU, NIME is new and it’s growing and although DFC will be 61 years old in a couple of weeks’ time, we’re going through a rebirth. And as part of that rebirth, we changed our corporate philosophy, our mission, our vision and the new vision speaks to strategic alliances. So this is right in there. One of our strategic objectives is gender mainstreaming. So we look at working with women, looking at creating more financial inclusion, working with young males as well. This fits into that. When you look at what NIME presents for the DFC, it presents 220 women and counting that we can work with, that we can support, right? If you look at what they’re talking about opportunities, community and growth, those are things that we link. So it’s strategic and as we said during the signing it’s the beginning of a more formal relationship. Women need access to funds. The DFC as Belize’s development finance institution we are looking at assisting with implementation of government policy, you know. But what we’re doing at the same time when we work with these women, whatever value we create, because we’re government owned it goes right back, right? It’s not profits going off somewhere. So we’re positioning and we have positioned the DFC as Belize’s financial institution for women in business. So this collaboration just takes that as step further.”

NIME was founded in 2022 to provide women entrepreneurs in the region with the ability to network and share best practices in business.