10,000 Women: Women Entrepreneurs Opportunity Facility

In 2014, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women partnered with International Finance Corporation (IFC) to establish the Women Entrepreneurs Opportunity Facility (WEOF), the first-of-its-kind venture to support women-led businesses around the world.

Leveraging the resources, reach, and expertise of IFC and Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women, WEOF was created to expand and deepen financing for women SMEs in developing countries, empower women entrepreneurs through access to capital and expertise, and demonstrate the commercial viability of investing in women by attracting external investors.

WEOF Impact

  • $2.8 billion mobilized to on-lend to women – more than four times the initial goal of $600 million
  • Reached 164,000 women SMEs, beating our 100,000 goal
  • Invested in 95 financial institutions across 55 countries
  • $900 million mobilized from external investors:
  • As a result of WEOF, financial institutions are increasing both their total loan portfolios to women SMEs as well as the value of loans to women SMEs.


In October 2019, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women released the WEOF Progress Report. This report takes a look at the first five years of our first-of-its-kind finance facility dedicated to women entrepreneurs globally.