Uzbekistan Country Gender Assessment: Update

Finance

adB assistance to the country’s finance sector supports SMes and rural housing in Uzbekistan. projects that use the adB’s multitranche financing facility (MFF) involve several equally important sectors, and are implemented with the close engagement of national participating commercial banks (pCBs). Under a collaborative modality, sub-loans issued by participating financial institutions enhance women’s access to finance and support women’s private entrepreneurship.

Development of Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise and Private Entrepreneurship

In the first half of 2017, SMes generated 46% of Uzbekistan’s gross domestic product (Gdp) and accounted for more than 16,000 new small businesses. among those, 42.3% are headed by women. the SMe sector is a leading national employer that provided 78.2% of all jobs in the 2016 formal labor market. Women have no legal impediments to engaging or participating in income-generating opportunities. Moreover, the government provides constant support for women’s entrepreneurship. Women’s share of the total number of employees in large companies and nongovernment organizations (NGOs) was 49.5% in 2016, and the rate has been stable since 2014.

However, some challenges remain. Women mainly occupy micro- and mini-business segments, mostly because of ow skills in finance and management. the traditional mind-set consigns women to work in micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMes) rather than in larger businesses. this attitude affects the behavior of women entrepreneurs and limits their sphere of business activity.

Women-led businesses are in services (34%), trade (16%), nonfood production (16%), food production (9%), agricultural farms (5%), and other spheres (21%). adB’s SMe Gaps

strengthen the capacity of pCBs to provide financial services to small businesses organized by women, especially in the rural areas.

Small microfinance projects provide explicit examples of how project sub-loans affect female private entrepreneurs . For instance, the Second Small and Microfinance development project– phase II created 21,968 jobs with the help of pCB sub-loans; 37% of those jobs were filled

by women. Ipak Yuli Bank and Hamkor Bank issued 4,152 microfinance loans and 502 small- business loans, 31.2% of which went to rural women’s MSMes.
Executive Summary xvii

the strategy for the SMe sector aims to support pCBs by

• 
  enhancing activities that increase financial management literacy among potential female clientele, in collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Business Women’s association (BWa);
  
• 
  expanding corporate gender policy documents by including a 30% quota for loans to women in the total loan portfolio and a 30% quota on representation in pCB management, including regional units;
  
• 
  enhancing outreach interventions in collaboration with the WCU and other stakeholders in the most remote rural areas and among residents of new housing communities to engage them in income-generating activities;
  
• 
  supporting women’s innovative projects through sub-loans in collaboration with the WCU; and
  
• 
  increasing assistance to female and male entrepreneurs who operate a mature business.