Empowering women financially

National Commission for Lebanese Women and Fransabank sign cooperation protocol

The National Commission for Lebanese Women (NCLW) and Fransabank signed a cooperation agreement to facilitate women’s access to credit.

Through the agreement, Fransabank will provide banking loans for women wanting to finance their small and medium sized businesses, through the National Commission for Lebanese Women.

Fransabank also announced that it has launched a new women-targeted loan. The ‘Najah Loan’ ranges between LL750,000 ($500) and LL50 million ($33,000). It is offered for financing small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The loans would benefit from reduced interest rates and other facilities such as extended grace periods and elongated repayment period.

The president of the NCLW, Wafa Sleiman, said that the signing of the protocol is “a new step towards empowering women and helping them finance small and medium sized businesses.” Sleiman said that the incentives included in the loans offered to SMEs are an opportunity to rise above the financial barriers that usually obstruct women’s capacities.