The Australian government’s Investing in Women program has invested P199.51 million in 34 women-led and owned small and medium enterprises and mobilized P624.89 million in private investment in the Philippines.
This is the outcome of the initial phase covering seven years, 2016 to 2023, of Investing in Women, a multi-country initiative of the Australian government that includes the Philippines, Vietnam and Indonesia.
The program seeks to accelerate women’s economic empowerment by promoting workplace gender equality; enable policy reforms that promote women’s economic participation; support locally driven campaigns that promote gender equality; and invest in women-owned and led businesses.
The women-led and owned businesses supported in the Philippines have provided training to over 300 female smallholder farmers, around 3,000 female agri-distributers, and 557 female teachers.
Some of these businesses, such as 1Export and Taxumo, were recognized as among the top Philippine startups during Philippine Startup Week 2023.
The program also established the Philippine Business Coalition for Women’s Empowerment, a group of large businesses which have committed to improve gender equality in their own workplaces and influence other large businesses to become better employers of women.
For the second phase of the program, the Australian government has set aside A$20.6 million for the three countries.
Hannah Birdsey, chief executive officer of Investing in Women, told reporters on the sidelines of the launch of the program in the Philippines in Makati City yesterday A$15 million in investible capital will go to funds across the region that are investing in women led businesses.
Birdsey said a second amount of A$5.6 million will support innovative finance.
“We are trying to target businesses that may be accessing capital for the first time.
They’re smaller businesses and looking for finance tailored to their needs. We have two different allocations that are working at different parts of the financing system to make sure that a diverse array of women businesses get the capital that they need to grow,” Birdsey added.
Target businesses range from agriculture, to health, retail, among others.
