By Cecilia Calatrava
Women-led businesses in Montenegro will benefit from a €2 million(US$2.16million) EBRD loan provided to NLB Banka Podgorica under its Women in Business Programme after the bank became the first commercial bank to sign up to the initiative in Montenegro.
The EBRD’s Women in Business programme aims to unleash the potential of women entrepreneurs by providing access to finance and know-how to grow their businesses. Higher participation of women in the economy and closing the gender gaps is expected to increase the country’s overall prosperity.
The agreement between the EBRD and NLB Banka Podgorica was signed today in London during the EBRD’s Western Balkans Investment Summit which was attended by Montenegro’s Prime Minister Dusko Markovic.
The Women in Business programme supports women entrepreneurs to access finance and know-how to grow their businesses. Since its launch in 2014, the programme has so far provided more than €520 million in credit lines, reaching more than 70,000 women-led micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) in 18 countries with access to finance, advisory services, training, mentoring and network-building activities.
In the Western Balkans the programme has reached over 5,000 women entrepreneurs with financing and advisory services to date.
Since it began investing in Montenegro in 2006, the EBRD has financed 60 projects worth €571 million in the country and provided over 100 Montenegrin women-led MSMEs with business advice and trainings.
