The World Bank Board has approved the Access to Finance for Jobs and Growth Project in Türkiye, an initiative that aims to increase access to finance for micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and support job creation. The project will focus on women and youth entrepreneurs.
The project is being implemented in partnership with Türkiye Vakıflar Bankası T.A.O. (VakıfBank). It will use a EUR 750 million IBRD guarantee under the World Bank Group Guarantee Platform to attract up to EUR 1.5 billion in commercial financing from international lenders over ten years.
Many MSMEs and entrepreneurs in Türkiye, especially women and youth, face difficulties accessing credit, digital services, and formal employment opportunities. These barriers affect firm productivity, limit investment, and slow job creation. The new project intends to address these issues by providing targeted financial support and incentives for employment.
“FINGROW will help Türkiye’s entrepreneurs access the financing they need to grow, innovate, and create jobs—particularly for women and young people who remain among the most credit-constrained,” said Humberto Lopez, World Bank Country Director for Türkiye. “The project also establishes a platform to harmonize market standards across banks, enhancing digitalization and supporting a more resilient financial ecosystem.”
The guarantee is expected to result in sub-loans for about 30,000 MSMEs—including 15,000 women-led firms and 1,000 youth-led firms—through three financing windows that focus on entrepreneurship among women and youth, sectoral access to finance, and resilience in less developed or disaster-affected regions. Performance-based incentives will be offered to firms that hire or retain employees—especially women and youth—and adopt digital financial services.
“Beyond financing, this project aims to be a demonstration platform that brings financial sector actors to harmonize definitions, verification practices, and reporting standards for MSMEs, enabling other banks to replicate and scale financial services for MSMEs, especially women-led enterprises,” said Etkin Özen, World Bank Task Team Leader. “This is key to achieving system-wide impact.”
The initiative is part of the Access to Finance for Jobs and Growth (FINGROW) Program—a $4 billion regional effort by the World Bank Group designed to improve access to financial services for businesses throughout Europe and Central Asia. The program seeks to promote private sector growth and aims at creating 3.5 million jobs across the region. Uzbekistan and Türkiye are the first countries in Europe and Central Asia participating in this program.