Garanti Bank SA: Combining SME Banking Excellence with a Proposition for Women Entrepreneurs in Turkey

This case study documents and analyzes Garanti bank's efforts to build a profitable and sustainable 'women in business' franchise, through its three-pillar approach,including: financial support, client education, and encouragement of entrepreneurship. It provides insights into how Garanti tapped into and developed its SME Banking franchise over time to more effectively target women entrepreneurs. The study also covers an objective assessment of results of the program to date, offering suggestions from IFC specialists on how the bank may further scale up its women in business initiative in the next phase of development. Key highlights from the study include:

• Fundamental strength of the bank’s SME Banking business platform has allowed Garanti to tap effectively into the women entrepreneurs market in Turkey;
• Women entrepreneurs business represents only a small portion of the bank’s business, and a significant opportunity remains to achieve further scale in coming years;
• There may be a need to create more scalable advisory platforms to support the educational needs of small and mass-segment women entrepreneurs in the future;
• As a large buyer of products and services in Turkey, the bank has an opportunity to take a more supplier inclusive, diversity-friendly approach to procurement from sellers.