Initiative Tackles SA’s Gender Financing Gap: Interview With Shared Interest’s Leadership

Initiative Tackles SA’s Gender Financing Gap: Interview With Shared Interest’s Leadership. U.S.-based nonprofit social investment fund, Shared Interest has announced a collaboration with the DG Murray Trust (DGMT) and uMaStandi that aims to close the gender financing gap by unlocking capital for women-led businesses in the housing and agriculture space. A staggering $42 billion gender financing gap persists across Africa. In South Africa alone, women own nearly 40% of small businesses but receive less than 10% of formal financing. This initiative is designed to change that. StartUpMag took some time to have an insightful conversation with Shared Interest’s leadership to find out how this initiative seeks to create opportunities for women entrepreneurs, stimulate local economies, and contribute to sustainable development in South Africa. Check it out below!

1. What motivated Shared Interest to prioritise closing the gender financing gap in South Africa at this stage of its work?

Over three decades, Shared Interest has seen women consistently deliver the highest social returns when given access to finance. Yet they remain underserved – women own nearly 40 % of small businesses but receive less than 10 % of formal financing. As South Africa rebuilds its economy post-pandemic amid tough economic times, we believe this is the decisive moment to use our partial credit guarantees to channel catalytic capital toward women entrepreneurs who are already transforming their communities through housing, agriculture, and local enterprise.

2. The press release mentions a staggering $42 billion gender financing gap across Africa. How does Shared Interest measure its impact against such a large challenge?

We measure success not only in the value of local loans unlocked, but also in the confidence restored amongst financial institutions in women entrepreneurs as viable borrowers.

The borrowers have the opportunity to build a credit record through repayments of the guaranteed loan.

Partial credit guarantees also change financial systems. Guaranteed loans help banks build credit histories, create gender-smart products, and establish new risk models. Ultimately, this is how we turn one-off access into lasting financial inclusion for more SMEs.

Over 30 years, Shared Interest has mobilised more than $150 million in local loans – leveraging every guarantee nearly tenfold. In South Africa, the USD 8 million we are unlocking for women will ripple across entire value chains financing homes, farms, and jobs that multiply opportunity well beyond the initial capital.

3. Why did Shared Interest choose to focus specifically on the housing and agriculture sectors for this initiative?

Shared interest unlocks capital for black, female and youth owned businesses while focusing capital to five high impact sectors of the economy including climate resilience, agriculture, fintech, cooperatives and social enterprises.

Housing and agriculture are two of South Africa’s most catalytic sectors for inclusive growth. Both directly impact livelihoods and dignity. Housing provides security and income, while agriculture underpins food systems and local economies.

Women are already leading innovation in these areas, yet they often face structural barriers to financing. By focusing here, we can achieve both social impact and financial demonstration effects for the broader market.

4. How will the partnership with DG Murray Trust and uMaStandi practically work to de-risk SME loans for women entrepreneurs?

Each partner plays a complementary role.

Shared Interest provides partial credit guarantees that share the risk with lenders.

DG Murray Trust contributes grant capital to support agripreneurs with technical assistance to strengthen borrower capacity.

uMaStandi, as a lending institution, identifies, trains, and finances women property developers through SI guaranteed loans.

Together with each partner, Shared Interest combines financial, technical, and social capital to lower risk and raise confidence both for banks and borrowers.

The partnership uses a blended finance approach: Shared Interest provides the credit guarantee facility that absorbs a portion of the risk for local lenders, while DG Murray Trust brings catalytic grant funding and deep community insight.

This layered structure ensures that financial institutions can lend more confidently to women entrepreneurs who may lack traditional collateral but demonstrate strong business potential and repayment capacity.

5. Could you explain more about the role of de-risking in unlocking access to capital for women-led businesses?

De-risking bridges the trust gap between lenders and women entrepreneurs. Traditional banks often require collateral that many women don’t possess. Our partial credit guarantees substitute confidence for collateral absorbing part of the loss if a borrower defaults. This shifts the conversation from “can she afford the loan?” to “how can we make her business succeed?”

It provides financial institutions with a safety net, a guarantee that mitigates potential losses if a borrower defaults. This mechanism encourages lenders to extend credit to new groups, including first-time women borrowers.

More importantly, de-risking is a bridge. Once women entrepreneurs establish a track record through these guaranteed loans, they can graduate into mainstream financing without the need for credit guarantees.

6. What are the expected short-term and long-term outcomes of unlocking USD 8 million in loans for women affordable housing entrepreneurs?

In the short term, we expect an increase in the number of new rental units built or upgraded in townships, creating local jobs and safer, denser communities. In the long term, we anticipate stronger credit histories for women landlords, increased property values, and scalable models for inclusive urban regeneration – proof that township development can be both profitable and socially transformative.

7. How will this initiative ensure that women landlords without traditional collateral can still qualify for loans and grow their businesses?

Through our partial credit guarantee facility and uMaStandi’s model, women can leverage property ownership, business performance, and community track record instead of traditional collateral only. Training and mentorship ensure each borrower develops a sound business plan and financial record – strengthening their eligibility for future mainstream finance.

8. uMaStandi already has a focus on Soweto. What criteria will be used to select new areas for expansion across South Africa?

Expansion will prioritise areas with strong housing demand, clear municipal support, and clusters of emerging women developers. Early opportunities include townships in KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape, and the Western Cape, where uMaStandi has already begun piloting new projects.

9. What does TUHF’s Entrepreneurial Support model involve, and how will it specifically support women entrepreneurs under this partnership?

TUHF’s model combines access to finance with mentorship and technical training through its Programme for Property Entrepreneurship. Women developers receive guidance across the full project cycle – from feasibility and compliance to construction and property management – ensuring that financing translates into sustainable business growth.

10. On the agricultural side, how will Shared Interest and DGMT identify and support young black agripreneurs?

DG Murray Trust’s field networks and Shared Interest’s financial-inclusion partners will jointly identify promising smallholder and medium-scale farmers. The programme will offer blended support – de-risked financing, business management coaching, and linkages to markets – enabling youth and women agripreneurs to expand production and access mainstream supply chains

DG Murray Trust has network of partnerships in the food security and agri-livelihoods space that provide deep community reach and insight into youth-led agricultural enterprises. Together with Shared Interest, we will identify promising agripreneurs through existing incubators, local cooperatives, and youth innovation hubs.

11. Beyond finance, what role will mentorship and training play in ensuring that women-led businesses thrive long after receiving funding?

Mentorship is our sustainability engine. Every guarantee is paired with technical assistance, so borrowers build financial literacy, business management, and leadership skills. The goal is not just access to credit, but confidence and competence to grow beyond it.

12. How will Shared Interest measure success in terms of job creation, local economic growth, and urban regeneration through this partnership?

We track both quantitative and qualitative outcomes – number of SMEs receiving loans, number of loans disbursed, units built, jobs created.

But we also measure catalytic impact for example the number of lenders adopting tailored loan products for SMEs such as gender-lens products and number of SME borrowers graduating to access repeat loan capital.

We deliberately focus capital towards community facing enterprises that contribute to positive social and environmental impacts such as climate resilience. We track the number of affordable units using recycled materials or solar power as well as the number of small holder farmers using solar or employing climate smart agriculture.

13. What systemic barriers still prevent women entrepreneurs from accessing traditional finance, and how does this initiative address them differently?

Key barriers include collateral requirements, limited credit history, gender bias in risk assessment, and lack of tailored financial products. Our approach addresses each one – partial credit guarantees reduce collateral pressure, blended finance provides flexibility, and capacity building levels the playing field through training and mentorship.

14. How will Shared Interest ensure that the women supported through this program build a track record strong enough to access mainstream finance in the future?

Shared Interest’s partial credit guarantees have a limited tenor, typically 3 years. Every loan is designed as a bridge, not an endpoint. We work with lenders to record repayment performance in credit bureaus and with partners like DGMT to help borrowers formalise their businesses. Over time, this builds verifiable creditworthiness and transitions them into mainstream banking.

15. Looking ahead, does Shared Interest intend to scale this model beyond South Africa into other African countries facing similar gender financing challenges?

Yes. This initiative is part of a broader Southern Africa strategy. Shared Interest is already supporting similar gender-smart guarantees in Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique and Lesotho. Lessons from the South African pilot 30 years ago, informed a regional blueprint — proving that when we de-risk women, we don’t just close the gender gap; we open new markets for inclusive growth.