From Vision to Opportunity: Reducing the Financing Gap for Women

Access to capital remains one of the most significant barriers to economic development, particularly for women. Dexis supports the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and its 2X Women’s Initiative, where a powerful tool—loan guarantees—fuels economic empowerment.

Everyone Wins When Women Work

In a constantly evolving development landscape, partnerships that leverage innovative tools like loan guarantees will continue to redefine how we approach global challenges. As Melinda Gates has said, “Investing in women means investing in the people who invest in everyone else.” By putting women and other underserved people at the center of economic strategies, we can ensure that growth is both inclusive and sustainable.

Yet, in developing countries, financial institutions often perceive lending to businesses led by women or other underserved groups as risky, citing limited collateral, lack of credit history, or systemic biases. Loan guarantees address this challenge by providing financial institutions with a safety net, reducing the perceived risk of extending loans to women and others.

Through efforts like the 2X Women’s Initiative, USAID and the DFC leverage loan guarantees to bridge the financing gap for women-led projects around the world, promoting gender equity and fostering economic growth for all.

The U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC)

Launched in December 2019, the DFC serves as America’s development bank. Its mission is to mobilize private-sector investment to solve critical development challenges, from poverty alleviation to climate change. By deploying innovative financial tools such as direct loans, equity investments, and political risk insurance, the DFC empowers businesses to operate in some of the world’s most challenging environments.

DFC’s strategic use of loan guarantees to unlock private capital helps create jobs, boost incomes, and drive inclusive economic growth. By fostering partnerships between public and private sectors, the DFC ensures that development impact goes beyond short-term relief, focusing on sustainable, systemic changes that transform communities.

How Dexis Supports DFC’s Mission

Dexis plays a key role in enabling DFC to execute its initiatives, including the 2X Women’s Initiative. Through Dexis, DFC benefits from expert personnel and seamless contract management that allow the agency to focus on advancing the technical components of its work.

Dexis has successfully placed Senior Credit Risk Analysts with DFC’s Mission Transaction Unit to assess and manage financial structures behind groundbreaking programs. This ensures that tools like loan guarantees are efficiently deployed to empower women-led businesses and other underserved groups worldwide.

The 2X Women’s Initiative: A Gender Lens on Loan Guarantees

DFC’s 2X Women’s Initiative is an ambitious program committed to economically empower women. Under this effort, DFC seeks to increase investments in businesses that are owned by, led by, or dedicated to improving outcomes for women. Loan guarantees are a cornerstone of this effort, helping reduce the financial barriers that women often face in accessing credit.

By applying a gender lens to investment decisions, the 2X Women’s Initiative ensures that funding flows to projects that directly address the unique challenges women face. These projects not only support women financially but also create inclusive workplaces and products tailored to their needs.

To date, the initiative has already mobilized over $13.5 billion in investments. This includes projects that meet specific criteria for gender-focused investing, such as women’s leadership, employment, and access to products or services that enhance their well-being. For example, 2X Women’s Initiatives have included supporting women’s management of logistics and shipping in Pakistan and Egypt by providing a 70% guarantee on a $6 million loan from a U.S. investment company.