Barclays enters partnership to help women tap international markets

NAIROBI: Barclays Bank Kenya and the International Trade Center (ITC) have partnered to help women access international trade opportunities.

Through SheTrades Kenya, the institutions will help women access export opportunities. Barclays committed to get 10,000 women into international markets, and has invested Sh70 million into the initiative.

“We are passionate about all groups and we are not excluding, but I think women have their own specific opportunities and challenges,” Barclays Bank Managing Director Jeremy Awori said.

“When you look at the number of women-led SMEs, they are about 48 per cent, and the number of women-led SMEs participating in international trade is about 20 per cent. We want to try and push that percentage up.”

The launch of SheTrades Kenya comes months after the lender announced it had set aside Sh5 billion in loans for women entrepreneurs. And before this, Barclays launched a Sh30 billion credit plan to ease SMEs’ access to loans.