Financial Institutions’ Toolbox for Action Commitments
This Resource Guide supports Financial Institutions in fulfilling their commitments under the WE Finance Code to close finance gaps for women entrepreneurs. Organized by the Code’s categories of Action Commitments: target setting, market research, adapting and developing existing financial products and services for WMSMEs, and developing non-financial products and services – the guide provides curated resources to help signatories set ambitious and realistic targets, understand market needs, and design inclusive solutions.
This guide will be updated periodically to reflect new resources and good practices.
When they sign onto the Code, each Financial Service Provider commits to taking action to close finance gaps for women entrepreneurs. They commit to actively support women entrepreneurs through inclusive products and services, new financing lines, and training programs.
1. Resources to Support Financial Institutions Set Targets to Expand Financing to WMSMEs
Action Commitment Category:
- Target setting (e.g., Set institutional targets to expand financing to WMSMEs)
- Collecting and Using Banking Data on Women Businesses: A How-To Guide for Financial Institutions (We-Fi)
This guide provides a concise, five-step framework for FSPs to sex-disaggregate MSME data and set targets for expanding financing to WMSMEs. It provides guidance and concrete examples on building internal data capabilities, linking KPIs to value drivers and business goals, and translating insights into concrete targets and actions to drive momentum, accountability, and progress toward deeper financial inclusion for women entrepreneurs.
This toolkit helps FSPs set targets to expand financing to WMSMEs by clarifying the business value of gender KPIs. By linking gender KPIs to product design, value propositions, and user journeys, it supports a gender-responsive approach that drives portfolio growth, client engagement, and targeted outreach to women entrepreneurs.
2. Resources to Support Financial Institutions Undertake Market Research
Action Commitment Category:
- Market Research (e.g., Understand the WMSME segment, Value Propositions that meet their needs)
A comprehensive playbook for conducting quantitative surveys alongside selected ethnographic interviews designed to explore the barriers and decision-making journeys experienced by female entrepreneurs in a specific country, and the opportunities to invest in the women’s market.
The report and its accompanying toolkit offer actionable guidance for financial institutions, investors, program designers, and donors to better understand and serve the distinct needs of WSMEs in emerging markets. It includes practical guides and tools across six steps—from analyzing the WSME landscape to customer segmentation, service demand assessment, solution design, and building the business case.
- WMSME Business Case Tool (We-Fi)
A tool that provides FSPs with a quick, high-level overview of the market opportunity for women-led MSME finance, estimating market size and profitability, while also offering insights into the local market context and constraints for women entrepreneurs.
This Guide provides practical guidance on understanding the NME landscape through market segmentation and sizing. It walks users through how to take a gender smart approach to identify underserved markets, tailor products and services to diverse needs, and foster inclusivity, ultimately driving growth and improving social impact.
- INVEST Toolkit (Dalberg, ConsumerCentriX, Argidius Foundation)
INVEST comprises a set of knowledge products and tools to support banks, funders, and supporters through the process of understanding SME markets and developing profitable value propositions. Includes a set of 8 tools and resources for financial institutions that can be used sequentially or independently to support SME banking research & diagnostics, pilot & refinement and roll-out.
3. Resources to Support Financial Institutions Adapt and/or Develop Financial Products and Services Tailored Specifically for WMSMEs
Action Commitment Category:
- Adapting Existing Products and Services (e.g., Redesign and or develop existing lending products to better serve WMSMEs)
- Developing New Financial Products & Services for WMSMEs (e.g., Develop new financial products for, tailored specifically for WMSMEs)
The report and its accompanying toolkit offer actionable guidance for financial institutions, investors, program designers, and donors to better understand and serve the distinct needs of WSMEs in emerging markets. It includes practical guides and tools across six steps—from analyzing the WSME landscape to customer segmentation, service demand assessment, solution design, and building the business case.
An online database that provides a curated list of financial and non-financial products and services specifically designed or adapted for women-led MSMEs. It Includes 19 WMSME product and service categories profiling 80+ examples from FSPs. Examples are organized into four types: Policy and Regulation; Financial Products and Services; Non-financial Products and Services; and Bundled Packages. Each product and service is also mapped to specific categories of challenges women entrepreneurs face in accessing finance. Users can filter results by the main challenge addressed, country or territory, and key types to quickly identify relevant examples.
The Strive Women Playbook is a resource to help practitioners design financial products and services for women entrepreneurs. It includes guidance on how to do women-centered design, with links to more than 20 tools, such as tools to analyze a financial product for women clients and product development frameworks. In each tool users will find women-centered design checks to support data collection, feedback and decision-making.
This tool focuses on the “how” of women-centered design, offering a step-by-step roadmap for FSPs to implement this methodology within their organizations. It guides users through five phases of the women-centered design methodology and includes relevant templates to implement those phases into their processes.
This guide presents a gender-lens analytical framework that lenders can use to determine whether lending decisions and outcomes in their portfolios differ by gender and, if so, how. For lenders using credit scoring models, the guide presents different gender-intentional techniques for adjusting their credit scoring models. It also presents implementation strategies—such as setting different decision threshold policies for women and men.
- How to Increase Lending to Women Using Machine Learning and Reject Inference (WWB online course)
This open-source 6-hour video course equips product owners and data scientists with the tools they need to address bias within credit evaluation processes at financial service providers. Within the course, participants learn to deploy algorithmic solutions to rectify biases in credit evaluations, specifically focusing on the high-impact issue of mistakenly rejecting creditworthy applicants, often due to biases ingrained in evaluation models themselves
The toolkit helps practitioners understand the financing needs, barriers, and opportunities for WMSMEs across their lifecycle (start-up, growth, expansion, maturity) , learn validated strategies to address these barriers, and access tools to design, monitor, and measure impactful financial solutions.
4. Resources to Support Financial Institutions Develop Non-Financial Products and Services for WMSMEs
Action Commitment Category:
- Developing Non-Financial Services for WMSMEs (e.g., Develop and implement bankability, financial literacy, credit-readiness trainings for women entrepreneurs)
This report is based on a survey of 34 banks worldwide on their approach to and measurement of nonfinancial services, with a focus on their offerings to businesses owned by women. It examines the benefits to financial institutions of integrating non-financial services that can help mitigate barriers faced by WMSMEs in accessing finance and incorporate them into a women-focused SME banking proposition.
This toolkit is a comprehensive, practical How to Guide for advancing women’s financial inclusion. Guidance and examples of non-financial products and services for women customers are found in the Project Ideas section and Linking Services section.
This publication details the role of gender norms that constrain women’s financial capability, provides an overview of women’s financial capability initiatives, including classroom-based initiatives, technology-led financial education, and high-touch financial capability approaches, and includes recommendations on how to ensure women are meaningfully and successfully engaged with financial services.
