Support for women entrepreneurs in Serbia

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is extending €8 million in funding to Banca Intesa Belgrade. The financing, which Sweden is backing with grants and technical assistance, will support investments by women entrepreneurs. 

The financing for businesses run or owned by women is being extended under the EBRD’s Women in Business programme, which promotes women’s entrepreneurship and their participation in business more broadly by providing them with access to finance and know-how. 

In the Western Balkans, including Serbia, women entrepreneurs continue to face numerous challenges both in terms of access to finance and access to know-how. To help improve access to finance, the EBRD offers specialised credit line in partnership with commercial banks. Since its launch in the Western Balkans in 2014, the programme has provided more than €57 million in credit lines, reaching more than 4,800 women-led micro, small and medium-sized enterprises across the region to provide access to finance, advisory services, training, mentoring and network-building activities. 

Banca Intesa has signed 20 loan agreements with the EBRD so far, five of which as part of the Women in Business Programme, which it joined in 2015.