Global Grants for Women’s Entrepreneurship: How to Tap into the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi)

If you work at a development finance institution or multilateral development bank and you care about women-owned businesses, We-Fi should be on your radar yesterday.

This isn’t a “$10k and a pat on the head” kind of program. The Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) channels hundreds of millions of dollars through multilateral development banks into programs that move real money, markets, and mindsets for women-owned SMEs in developing countries.

The catch? Women entrepreneurs don’t apply directly.
The money flows to implementing partners—development banks and similar institutions—who then design and run the on-the-ground programs: blended finance facilities, guarantee schemes, technical assistance, accelerators, policy reforms, market access projects, and more.

If you’re:

• A multilateral development bank or development finance institution thinking about scaling your women’s SME work, or
• A policymaker, ecosystem builder, or women’s business network trying to understand where the big money for women-owned SMEs actually comes from,

this guide will walk you through what We-Fi offers, who can apply, and how to be strategic about it.

We-Fi At a Glance

What This Opportunity Actually Offers (and Why It’s a Big Deal)

We-Fi is not a small grant window; it’s more like a catalytic capital engine aimed at fixing the systemic barriers that keep women-owned SMEs small, underfunded, and invisible.

Here’s what it offers to implementing partners and, by extension, to the women entrepreneurs they serve.

1. Large, Flexible Capital for Women’s SME Programs

Allocations are multi-million in size and designed to mobilize far more in co-financing and private capital. Think of We-Fi funds as the highly strategic “first mover” money that lets you:

• Blend concessional capital with commercial loans for women-owned SMEs
• Set up risk-sharing facilities or guarantees
• Bring in local financial institutions and nudge them to change their lending practices to women

If you’re used to squeezing a women’s SME program into a tiny TA budget, We-Fi is a completely different scale.

2. Support Across the Whole Ecosystem

We-Fi isn’t fixated only on credit lines. It takes a full-ecosystem view, supporting things like:

• Access to financial services: credit, guarantees, risk-sharing, tailored products for women
• Capacity building: business development services, coaching, digital skills, financial literacy
• Market access: improving women’s role in supply chains, procurement, export markets
• Policy and regulatory reform: improving laws, data, and systems that constrain women-led SMEs

In practice, this means you can design multi-component programs that combine finance, technical assistance, policy work, and knowledge—all under one umbrella.

3. A Global Platform and Knowledge Hub

We-Fi doesn’t just write checks and disappear. It invests heavily in learning and visibility:

• A Knowledge Portal with evidence, tools, and case studies
• Events on topics like inclusive value chains and care economy entrepreneurship
• Evidence papers and reports that actually help you make the case to skeptical ministries and banks

For implementing partners, this is gold. You’re not flying solo; you join a global coalition of MDBs, DFIs, governments, and private-sector actors working on similar problems. You get examples, benchmarks, and proof points you can reuse when you push for reforms or more internal resources.

4. The WE Finance Code: Pushing Institutions to Change

We-Fi also backs the WE Finance Code, a multi-stakeholder effort that nudges financial institutions to:

• Collect sex-disaggregated data
• Design better products for women entrepreneurs
• Commit to targets and public reporting on women’s financing

If you’re an implementing partner, you can tap into this framework to shift behavior in commercial banks and NBFIs in your markets. It gives you a structured way to go beyond “we launched a women’s credit line” to “we changed how the financial system treats women-owned SMEs.”

Who Should Apply (and Who Actually Receives the Money)

Let’s be blunt: this is not a direct grant for individual entrepreneurs, NGOs, or small businesses.

We-Fi funding is aimed at large institutions that can operate at scale:

• Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) – e.g., World Bank Group institutions, regional development banks
• Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) – bilateral or multilateral operators with strong SME and gender portfolios

These organizations become We-Fi Implementing Partners, and they, in turn, design and deliver the actual on-the-ground programs with:

• Governments
• Local banks and microfinance institutions
• Business support organizations and accelerators
• Corporate supply chain partners
• Women’s business networks and associations

Target Beneficiaries: Who Ultimately Benefits

The real focus is on women-owned and women-led SMEs in developing and emerging economies, particularly where:

• Access to finance is constrained by collateral rules, bias, or poor product design
• Women’s enterprises are stuck in micro-scale operations and can’t jump to SME size
• Regulations, norms, or market structures effectively shut women out of higher-value opportunities

The projects span everything from:

• Women-run agribusinesses plugging into global supply chains (like pepper farmers in Vietnam)
• Women in value-adding sectors needing resilience and working capital (e.g., the BRAVE program in Nigeria)
• Women-owned businesses expanding into manufacturing, tech, care services, and export markets

Are You a Good Institutional Fit?

You’re a serious candidate if your institution:

• Already works on private sector development, SME finance, or gender-inclusive finance
• Has the capacity to run multi-country or at least large national-level programs
• Can bring co-financing, government dialogue, and strong implementation partners to the table

If you’re a women’s business network, local accelerator, or NGO: your path is to partner with an MDB/DFI applying to We-Fi, not to apply directly. But you absolutely can shape and strengthen proposals by bringing in grounded, local insight.

Insider Tips for a Winning We-Fi Application

You’re not pitching a small pilot. You’re proposing a system-level intervention for women-owned SMEs. That changes how you write.

Here’s how to stack the odds in your favor.

1. Show Real Scale, Not Tokenism

We-Fi isn’t excited by a project that trains 200 entrepreneurs and calls it a day. It wants reach and systemic effects.

Spell out:

• How many women-led SMEs you expect to reach—directly and indirectly
• How you’ll get beyond capital cities and glossy incubators to mainstream business activity
• How your program changes market structures (e.g., banking practices, procurement rules, supply chain sourcing)

Tie your scale story to numbers We-Fi already cares about: activities, countries, entrepreneurs reached.

2. Lead with the Market Failure, Not the Good Intentions

Avoid vague statements like “women face barriers.” Explain specifically:

• What isn’t working in your target markets (e.g., lack of collateral, biased underwriting, no data, discriminatory regulations)
• Why existing financial products underserve women-led SMEs
• What evidence backs this up (national surveys, portfolio diagnostics, previous projects)

Then position your We-Fi proposal as a targeted response to named, measurable market failures.

3. Blend Instruments Cleverly

A strong We-Fi concept typically blends:

• Finance (credit lines, guarantees, blended instruments)
• Advisory/TA for both SMEs and financial institutions
• Policy work where relevant
• Knowledge and data to track what works

Don’t propose a single training program or a basic line of credit and call it transformational. Show how the pieces work together, like gears in a machine.

4. Get Serious About Data and Learning

We-Fi has a strong knowledge backbone. You’ll stand out if your proposal shows:

• Clear plans to collect sex-disaggregated data on clients, loans, performance
• A robust results framework, with practical indicators and realistic targets
• A plan to contribute to and use We-Fi’s Knowledge Portal and evidence base

Reviewers want to see that if you discover something that works, the world will hear about it.

5. Build Real Partnerships, Not Letterhead Collages

If you list 14 “partners” but none has a clear role, that’s noise.

Instead:

• Identify a small set of serious partners—banks, corporates, ministries, women’s networks
• Define what each will actually do: commit lending volumes, adjust policies, provide market access, deliver BDS
• Show that they’ve been part of project design, not just signed an endorsement letter the day before submission

6. Be Honest About Implementation Risks

Women’s SME programs are hard. You’ll deal with social norms, institutional inertia, and messy markets.

Address that head-on:

• Name the key risks: low uptake, weak partner commitment, data gaps, political shifts
• Explain how you’ll mitigate these: incentives in agreements, flexible instruments, phased pilots, contingency plans

Reviewers trust proposals that acknowledge reality and plan for it.

7. Tie into Global Agendas

Without turning it into a slogan parade, show how your program aligns with:

• SDG 5 (Gender Equality) and SDG 8 (Decent Work and Growth)
• Your institution’s own gender strategy
• National development plans or financial inclusion strategies in your target countries

This signals that your project sits in a broader trajectory—not a one-off experiment.

Application Timeline: Working Back from 22 November 2024

If you want to be competitive, you can’t treat this as a last-minute concept note. Here’s a realistic backward plan.

By early November 2024 (2–3 weeks before deadline)
You should have a full draft project document, internal approvals well advanced, and all partners confirmed. This window is for final edits, numbers sanity checks, and alignment with We-Fi guidance.

October 2024
This is your design and writing month. You’re:

• Finalizing country selection and sectors
• Locking in the financial structure (size of facilities, co-financing, risk-sharing terms)
• Tightening the results framework and budget
• Circulating drafts to internal gender specialists, SME teams, and risk teams

September 2024
Use this month for deep consultations:

• Talk to local stakeholders—banks, women’s business groups, regulators—so your concept reflects real constraints
• Identify which partners would realistically implement what
• Start internal processes for concept reviews and approvals (every MDB/DFI has its own gauntlet)

August 2024
This is groundwork time:

• Scan We-Fi’s Knowledge Portal and previous funded projects to avoid duplicating what already exists
• Map your institution’s current gender-SME operations: where We-Fi can add the most value
• Build an initial concept note and pitch it internally to secure buy-in

If you start later than this, you’re relying on heroics and goodwill. That usually ends the same way: rushed, vague, and under-ambitious.

Required Materials (and How to Prepare Them Well)

Each institution’s internal format will differ, but you can be almost certain you’ll need:

• A detailed project proposal or concept note
  This should cover context, problem statement, proposed solution, instruments, target countries, sectors, partners, implementation arrangements, and risk management. The more concrete and evidence-based, the better.

• Logical framework / Results framework
  Include outputs (e.g., loans disbursed, women entrepreneurs trained), outcomes (improved revenue, jobs created, increased access to finance), and, where reasonable, systemic indicators (policy reforms, institutional changes).

• Budget and financing plan
  Clearly distinguish We-Fi funds, your institution’s contribution, and any co-financing from governments, banks, or donors. If you’re using blended finance, explain the structure in plain language, not just diagrams.

• Gender analysis and targeting rationale
  Document the specific constraints facing women-owned SMEs in your chosen context—legal, financial, cultural, data. Show that your targeting logic is based on facts, not stereotypes.

• Partnership documentation
  This might include MOUs, letters of intent, or at least formal expressions of interest from key partners. Generic “we support gender” letters won’t impress anyone—describe roles and commitments.

• Monitoring, evaluation, and learning (MEL) plan
  Outline how you’ll track progress, what data you’ll collect (especially sex-disaggregated), and how you’ll share emerging lessons.

Start early by aligning this with your institution’s own appraisal process; the last thing you want is parallel but conflicting requirements.

What Makes a We-Fi Application Stand Out

From a reviewer’s perspective, here’s what separates the strong from the forgettable.

1. Clear Theory of Change

You should be able to answer, in one coherent paragraph:

• What’s broken
• What you’re doing about it
• Why your specific combination of instruments will change things for women-owned SMEs
• How that change persists after the project formally ends

If you can’t say it clearly, you probably don’t have it clearly.

2. Serious Mobilization of Additional Capital

We-Fi is there to catalyze, not to replace your existing budget.

Standout proposals show:

• Multipliers—how each We-Fi dollar is expected to attract X dollars in private or public co-financing
• Realistic pathways for banks or funds to continue serving women-led SMEs after the We-Fi-supported phase

Don’t inflate numbers; reviewers can smell fantasy multipliers a mile off.

3. Strong Focus on the “Missing Middle”

Microcredit has plenty of friends. Large corporates do too. The “missing middle”—growth-stage SMEs—is where We-Fi wants to see serious engagement.

Demonstrate how:

• Your program helps women-owned businesses move from micro to SME scale
• Ticket sizes, tenors, and terms are tailored for actual growth, not survival
• Non-financial services support that growth (mentoring, networks, market linkages)

4. Context-Specific, Not Cookie-Cutter

If your program for West Africa looks identical to your program in Southeast Asia, something’s off.

Show that:

• You’ve adjusted instruments and approaches to local regulations, norms, and markets
• You’re not importing a generic “women’s training” model and hoping for the best

Common Mistakes to Avoid

There are a few recurring pitfalls that sink otherwise promising ideas.

1. Treating Women as a Marketing Segment, Not Economic Actors

If your proposal frames women entrepreneurs mostly as vulnerable or in need of charity, you’ve missed the point. We-Fi backs women as job creators and growth drivers.

Solution: Talk about productivity, employment, supply chains, exports, and profitability—not just empowerment as a slogan.

2. Weak Link Between Finance and TA

Some projects propose big TA programs with almost no capital, or big credit lines with no support.

Solution: Make the connection explicit. For example, explain how advisory services will feed qualified borrowers into a guarantee scheme, or how improved bank processes will unlock the credit line’s full potential.

3. Ignoring the Care Economy and Time Constraints

Women entrepreneurs don’t magically have 40 extra hours a week for training and applications.

Solution: Start thinking:

• Flexible delivery models (digital, modular, after-hours)
• Childcare solutions or partnerships
• Realistic expectations for time and travel

We-Fi has an explicit interest in the care economy and how it affects women’s work—use that.

4. Overpromising on Jobs and Scale

Ambitious numbers look exciting until they stop making sense. If your model can’t logically deliver the 100,000 jobs you promise, reviewers will notice.

Solution: Use realistic, evidence-based estimates and be transparent about your assumptions.

5. Treating MEL as an Afterthought

Throwing a laundry list of indicators into an annex is not a learning plan.

Solution: Prioritize a small set of smart indicators and explain how you’ll use the data to adjust the project as you go.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can individual women entrepreneurs apply directly to We-Fi?
No. We-Fi funds institutions, primarily multilateral development banks and development finance institutions. If you’re a woman entrepreneur, your access to We-Fi support will be through specific programs or facilities in your country that those institutions run.

We’re a local bank / NGO / accelerator. Can we apply?
Not directly. But you can become an implementation partner within a We-Fi-funded project. Your best move is to connect with MDBs/DFIs active in your country and propose concrete collaboration ideas they can build into their We-Fi proposals.

We’re a ministry or government agency. Where do we fit in?
Governments are key partners—especially for policy reforms, public procurement, and national financial inclusion strategies. Work with MDBs/DFIs to co-create programs that combine regulatory changes, data systems, and SME support.

Are there priority sectors?
We-Fi has backed a wide range—agribusiness, manufacturing, services, value chains, and more—with a recent spotlight on areas like the care economy and inclusive value chains. Your sector choices should be tied to clear opportunities for women-owned SMEs and real market potential.

Which countries are eligible?
Projects focus on developing and emerging economies. Exact eligibility depends on the funding round and the policies of the MDB/DFI applying. If you’re inside an institution, check your internal We-Fi guidance or speak to your We-Fi focal point.

How competitive is it?
Very. The bar is high, and projects must show scale, systemic impact, and strong gender additionality. But if your institution already has serious SME and gender capacity, it’s absolutely worth the effort.

Can we build on an existing We-Fi project?
Yes, and it can be an advantage. Scaling or deepening a successful pilot, or replicating a proven model in new countries, often makes a strong case—provided you explain what you learned and how you’re improving the design.

How to Apply and Get Started

If you’re considering applying as an implementing partner, don’t just jump straight into writing a proposal. Do this instead:

1. Visit the official We-Fi website
   Spend time on the main site and especially the Knowledge Portal and Featured Projects. Understand what’s already been funded and how your idea fits into the bigger picture.

   • Official website: https://we-fi.org/

2. Identify your internal We-Fi focal point
   Most MDBs and DFIs already have a gender or We-Fi lead. Talk to them early. They’ll know the internal process, institutional priorities, and lessons from past rounds.

3. Map your strongest opportunities
   Look across your pipeline or existing portfolio and ask: in which countries and sectors do we have the right mix of partners, demand from women-led SMEs, and readiness of local institutions to change?

4. Engage external partners early
   Don’t treat local banks, governments, and women’s business networks as afterthoughts. Bring them into design discussions now so that by the time you apply, they’re genuinely on board.

5. Draft a short, sharp concept first
   Before you write 40 pages, write four. Test your core idea with colleagues, We-Fi contacts, and potential partners. If that four-page concept isn’t compelling, the longer version won’t fix it.

6. Align with We-Fi timelines and guidance
   The specific requirements for each round are detailed on the We-Fi site or in call-for-proposal documents shared with implementing partners. Make sure you’re working off the latest version.

Ready to Move?

If you’re serious about building or scaling a high-impact women’s SME program at institutional scale, We-Fi is one of the few global facilities built exactly for that purpose.

You won’t be doing a side project. You’ll be reshaping how your institution and its partners serve women-owned businesses—and, if you do it right, shifting markets in the process.

Ready to take the next step?

Visit the official opportunity page for full details, resources, and updates:
https://we-fi.org/

Start there, talk to your internal teams, and design something worthy of the women entrepreneurs you’re trying to back.