NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Monday, January 17, 2011

AMMAN – Vast majority of loans for micro projects in Jordan were extended to female entrepreneurs over the past few years, a recent study showed Sunday.

According to the Arab Microfinance Regional Report, launched yesterday, women borrowers for micro projects represented over 70 per cent of total people who had access to micro credit facilities.

Experts from lending institutions expected the trend of funding schemes run mainly by women to continue in the coming years.

During the launch of the report, members from the Microfund for Women explained that females are targeted by funding institutions because the benefits generated from the projects implement female entrepreneurs usually extend to their families, doubling the effect of the funds.

On the other hand, men usually incur more debts than women, which makes them pose “higher potential risks” for funding institutions, according to Bassem Khanfar, general manager of the Jordan Micro Credit Company (Tamweelcom).