Unlocking capital for women entrepreneurs in Namibia: a gender-lens approach to development finance

Abstract

This study examines persistent gender disparities in access to finance among women entrepreneurs in Namibia, with primary data drawn from the Khomas Region and supplemented by national secondary data. It evaluates the effectiveness of national development finance interventions in addressing these imbalances. Despite policy commitments to inclusive economic empowerment and the existence of targeted financial instruments, including the Women and Youth Development Fund and small and medium enterprise (SME) support mechanisms through the Development Bank of Namibia (DBN), women continue to face structural, institutional, and socio-cultural constraints that impede access to credit. Employing a convergent mixed-methods research design, this study draws on survey data from 50 women entrepreneurs in the Khomas Region and semi-structured interviews with 15 key stakeholders from government agencies, development finance institutions, and civil society organizations. The findings reveal that collateral requirements, limited financial literacy, implicit gender biases in credit appraisal processes, and the urban-centric nature of outreach efforts collectively deepen women’s financial exclusion. This paper advances the case for a gender-lens financing paradigm, one that embeds gender equity into product design, institutional culture, and evaluation metrics as a sustainable pathway for enabling women’s entrepreneurship and inclusive economic development. Findings are situated within the Khomas Region context; broader national generalization requires multi-regional validation.