Ukraine discusses joining international program to support women in business

Ukraine is considering joining the global initiative Women Entrepreneurs Finance Code, which helps women entrepreneurs access financing. This was reported to by the press service of the Ministry of Economy.

First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy Yulia Svyrydenko discusses this possibility during a meeting with Deputy Head of the EBRD Office in Ukraine Artur Poghosyan.

The Women Entrepreneurs Finance Code is an international initiative that already operates in more than 30 countries. The program helps micro, small and medium-sized businesses founded by women to obtain loans and grants.

Participation in the program is a voluntary commitment of banks, government agencies and other institutions to support women's entrepreneurship.

The program provides for:

• creating a coalition of organizations that support women's businesses;
• launching new lending instruments;
• regular monitoring and reporting on SME financing.

Svyrydenko emphasized that Ukraine already has programs to support women in business, but the government is open to new initiatives.

She suggested formalizing the joint work on the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Code in a memorandum. The document will formalize the creation of a coalition of partners who will join the initiative.

• As of December 31, 2024, 2.3 million individual entrepreneurs (IEs) were registered in Ukraine, of which women accounted for 48.1% – 1.1 million, the highest figure since 2020.