Financial institutions increasingly recognize the opportunity to serve women-owned SMEs. Yet translating this ambition into scalable lending often requires changes across strategy, systems, and decision-making processes.
This case study highlights how Sagana partnered with a leading bank in Nepal to embed gender-smart lending practices across the institution, strengthening its ability to expand financing for women entrepreneurs and position itself for new gender-focused credit lines.
Growth ambition, structural constraints
The bank aimed to grow its portfolio serving women-owned SMEs. However, existing organizational structures and processes limited its ability to scale.
Challenges included:
- No bank-owned, scalable strategy for women-owned SME lending
- Inconsistent credit assessment approaches across teams
- Limited performance indicators to track outreach and impact
- Data systems that did not support structured portfolio growth
These constraints made it difficult to align teams, track performance, and demonstrate business value.
Building a gender-smart lending foundation
Sagana conducted a bank-wide gender diagnostic assessing leadership commitment, product design, underwriting practices, MIS systems, and service delivery. The diagnostic was complemented by interviews with women entrepreneurs to understand barriers to access.
These insights informed the development of a data-driven strategy to scale lending to women-owned SMEs. The strategy included:
- Portfolio analysis and segmentation
- Priority market identification
- A phased scale-up roadmap
- Defined KPIs for monitoring performance
To operationalize the strategy, Sagana also developed a gender-responsive SME credit risk assessment tool. The engagement included train-the-trainer programs for relationship managers, branch managers, and gender champions to embed these practices across the institution.
Moving from intent to implementation
The engagement focused on integrating gender-smart lending into core operations rather than treating it as a standalone initiative. This included:
- A comprehensive gender diagnostic identifying operational and sociocultural barriers
- A structured business plan for scaling women-owned SME lending
- A customized credit risk assessment tool aligned with gender finance standards
- A monitoring and evaluation framework to track progress
This approach helped translate strategic intent into practical lending processes.
Impact: Strengthening institutional readiness
The engagement supported leadership alignment around the business case for gender-smart lending and created a standardized approach to credit assessment.
Key outcomes included:
- Leadership buy-in through an evidence-based strategy
- Standardized credit assessment reducing reliance on judgment and mitigating bias
- Improved tracking of outreach and portfolio performance
- Institutional readiness to unlock gender-focused credit lines
Early signals indicated potential to mobilize up to USD 45 million in financing for women-owned SMEs.
What this means for financial institutions
Many banks recognize the opportunity to expand financing for women entrepreneurs but face operational challenges in scaling lending. Without standardized tools, clear strategies, and aligned teams, growth can remain limited.
Embedding gender-smart practices across strategy, risk assessment, and staff capability helps institutions move from intent to scalable portfolio growth.
Embedding gender-smart lending for sustainable growth
Scaling lending to women-owned SMEs requires more than dedicated products. It requires institutional alignment, data-driven decision-making, and practical tools that support consistent credit assessment.
By integrating gender-smart lending into core operations, financial institutions can expand access to finance while strengthening portfolio performance and positioning themselves for new capital opportunities.
Is your institution ready to scale gender-smart lending?
