To that regard, banks and financial institutions should begin to adopt gender- conscious strategies and technologies by re-examining market conditions to determine the financial services that are required by women. Entrepreneurship should be nurtured in today’s women- led firms and systematically developed within financial institutions. By building an investor economy for female entrepreneurs, organizations can better address persistent funding gaps.
Latin America is often regarded as one of the world’s regions with the greatest potential for financial innovation. We have seen this trend begin to play out in recent years with the emergence of countless fintechs, especially in countries such as Brazil and Mexico, which are paving the way for other markets in the region. Latin America, however, faces deep-rooted cultural challenges as it modernizes and becomes more financially inclusive. To prevent reversing recent advances and to guarantee that women play an active role in the economic recovery, this issue must be addressed. There is an opportunity for this gender gap to be mitigated with the support of banks and lenders. By leveraging technology such as alternative data and machine learning, financial institutions can support female-led businesses through a more comprehensive analysis of behaviors beyond traditional data points to evaluate their real potential as clients. This, in turn, provides greater credit opportunities for women entrepreneurs by streamlining lending processes, including quickly and accurately assessing credit risk.
Gender inequality is a significant hinderance to Latin American societies, as it prevents the emergence of potentially groundbreaking new companies and ideas. According to the Inter-American Development Bank (BID), 54% of women use their own savings to start a project since only 15% manage to start their companies with the support of a private bank. The entity states that among the main barriers for women who want to start a business are the fear of failure, household responsibilities and a lack of motivation. Women also tend to have
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