Economic Opportunity for Women
Financial Inclusion is the starting point. Economic opportunity is the outcome.
What is economic opportunity?
Economic opportunity is about what women can do with their lives.
It means having the ability to earn income, build skills, own assets, and make choices that lead to stability, growth, and independence over time. Economic opportunity is not only about whether women can access financial services. It is about whether access translates into real progress: stronger businesses, more secure households, and greater resilience in the face of shocks.
How Women's World Banking advances economic opportunity
Women’s World Banking is dedicated to serve the 700 million women excluded from the formal financial sector. We know that economic opportunity grows when the financial system allows everyone to participate and benefit.
Today, millions of women are not equipped to manage their finances, climate and health risks or to build businesses and create jobs. We address systemic issues such as lack of access to capital, limited labor force participation, and discriminatory laws.
Economic opportunity focuses on whether women can translate financial tools into:
- Business growth
- Higher and more stable incomes
- Stronger savings and assets
- Greater resilience to shocks
- Increased decision‑making power
Designing financial systems that support these outcomes requires solutions built around women’s real lives, responsibilities, and ambitions.
How you can partner with us
Public Funders
Corporates & Foundations
Don't just take it from us - hear her side of the story
Running a wholesale drinks business in Nigeria, Olubukola used FCMB’s Auto Repeat Loan—developed with Women’s World Banking—to access capital quickly and repay on a schedule that matched her business cash flow. Her story shows how women-centered credit design can help close financing gaps and unlock growth for women entrepreneurs.
With a small business loan and the confidence to expand her home cooking into a hotel enterprise, Apurva turned opportunity into income—demonstrating how access to capital helps women entrepreneurs grow businesses and build more secure futures for their families.
With access to secure digital financial services through Wing Bank, Sar Yorn gained greater control over how she sends, saves, and manages her earnings—illustrating how digital access helps women workers translate income into stability and opportunity over time.
Partner with us to deliver inclusive economic growth through stronger financial systems.
Contact us at development@womensworldbanking.org
