America supports businesswomen worldwide

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Ariunaa Byambakhuu began knitting as a teenager in Mongolia and by 2005 founded Goyol Cashmere. The business in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar started with just five employees, but Byambakhuu now employs 100 workers, 80% of them women.
The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) supported Goyol with a $5 million loan in 2020, advancing its 2X Women’s Initiative to economically empower women worldwide. The loan will help Byambakhuu, who provides housing and child care for working mothers on staff, to build a new factory, buy equipment and expand production.
By bringing U.S. private sector investment to emerging markets, DFC enables entrepreneurs around the world to grow their companies without ensnaring countries in unsustainable state-directed debt.
Through its 2X Women’s Initiative, DFC has catalyzed more than $7 billion in private sector investment in projects that economically empower women in developing countries — which includes expanding access to financing for women entrepreneurs.
What does this access to financing look like?
For Talita Setyadi, a 2021 loan from DFC and the U.S.-based lender Small Enterprise Assistance Funds (SEAF) provided in 2021 helps her bakery in Jakarta, Indonesia, avoid layoffs and expand, despite limits on indoor dining to fight COVID-19.
“We are facing unprecedented challenges amid the coronavirus pandemic,” Setyadi said. “The loan will enable BEAU Bakery to survive, regain our footing and continue to deliver to local communities through this crisis.”