In the context of Gender Mainstreaming, a one-day workshop on Peer-to-Peer Lending and Crowdfunding targeting women entrepreneurs in the financial services sector, opened, on Thursday morning, at the Ravenala Attitude Hotel in Balaclava, in the presence of the Minister of Financial Services and Good Governance, Mr Mahen Kumar Seeruttun.
The Chief Executive Officer of SME Mauritius Ltd, Mr Ravin Rampersad, the Founder and President of the Women in Finance and Investment Network (WIFIN), Ms Dikshita Awotarowa, and other personalities were present.
In his keynote address, Minister Seeruttun spoke of the Government Vision 2030 which has identified the SME sector as one of the key propellers and which aims to increase the contribution of SME from 40 % to 52 % of GDP in 10 years’ time. One main challenge for the SMEs, he indicated, is access to finance in a timely manner hence the need to create awareness on financial innovation and inclusion for women entrepreneurs.
He dwelt on the issue of gender disparity as regards access to finance across the continent adding that women’s access to finance is disproportionately low. The World Bank, he said, has reported a 9% gap between women’s and men’s access from 2011 to 2017, which according to him, signifies a high level of discrepancy in terms of access to financing for men and women.
In addition, Minister Seeruttun recalled that the United Nations Capital Development Fund has made a bold statement this year by affirming that the “Future of Fintech is Female” and has called for actions to improve the participation of women in the fintech sector. “There is a need to make the connection between innovation and inclusion in the financial services sector as they are key to increasing women’s participation”, he said.
Government, he highlighted, is committed to creating an enabling environment for greater financial inclusion. The Financial Services Commission, he added, has proposed several licenses as alternatives to traditional modes of financing. He thus urged women entrepreneurs to benefit from Peer-to-Peer Lending and Crowdfunding to start up and expand their businesses.
For his part, Mr Rampersad underlined that finance is an important part of progress in entrepreneurship and is integral to stimulate the expansion and growth of enterprises. The SME Mauritius Ltd, he said, is at the forefront of entrepreneurship in the country and it offers a wide-array of facilities and schemes to local entrepreneurs. Over the past two years, some 1,500 SMEs have benefited from the schemes put in place by the organisation, he indicated.
Women entrepreneurs, he said, have a huge contribution in the socio-economic development of the country which is why access to financing remains a key element.
