The Australian government plans to launch a $20.6 million fund to help women-led businesses in the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia.
This represents the second phase of its Investing in Women program, after sinking P824.4 million to finance women-led initiatives in the Philippines in the first seven years.
Investing in Women chief executive Hannah Birdsey said the initiative targets businesses that may be accessing capital for the first time.
“There’s 15 million Australian dollars in investable capital that will go to funds across the region that are investing in women-led businesses, so that will be in the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam. And then, there is a second amount of 5.6 million Australian dollars, which will again be spread across Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam, and will go to support the kind of innovative finance,” she said at the launch of the new phase Tuesday.
She said the two funding are separate allocations to make sure that a diverse of women-led enterprises get the capital in a financing format that suits their specific needs.
The program is also dispersing another Au$8 million financing across the ASEAN region, Birdesy said.
The new program builds on the achievements and partnerships established in the first seven years. It focuses on strengthening the evidence to inform policy reforms that support women’s equal participation, particularly regarding care work.