Honduras: Proparco is supporting Banco Ficohsa, a bank committed to women’s entrepreneurship and SMEs

Banco Financiera Comercial Hondureña S.A. (Ficohsa) was set up in 1991 as a non-banking financial institution and obtained the status of bank in 1994. In 20 years, Ficohsa has become the country’s leading bank in terms of assets and its market share has been constantly increasing since then (19.5% at the end of 2019). 

The bank is the main entity of the Honduran-owned regional group GFF (Grupo Financiero Ficohsa) which is headquartered in Panama. It is composed of nine companies which all have the same name. GFF is the largest financial group in Honduras and Ficohsa is one of the major brands in the Central America region.

100% of the proposed credit line (USD 20m) is earmarked to support the financing activity for small and medium-sized enterprises in Honduras. USD 7.5m will be directly allocated to businesses run by women, or that promote the inclusion of women in economic activity, and USD 5m will go to local SMEs operating in the agribusiness sector.

Proparco has had a business relationship with Banco Ficohsa Honduras since the signing of a USD 20m credit line in December 2012 to finance renewable energies and energy efficiency. A second USD 35m credit line was signed in 2018, also to finance renewable energies. 

This project is part of the 2X Challenge initiative. This multi-stakeholder initiative aims to support projects that empower women as entrepreneurs, business leaders, employees and consumers of products and services, and increase their participation in the economy. 

This initiative thus contributes to Sustainable Development Goal #5 (Gender Equality).

The main expected impacts of this project are as follows: 

• Some 13,000 jobs supported over the next 5 years, in particular in the SMEs financed by Ficohsa.
• A contribution to women’s entrepreneurship, as 37.5% of the credit line will be dedicated to gender projects. Women account for about 85% of clients operating in the SME segment, some 60% of Ficohsa’s employees and 43% of the bank’s senior management. Ficohsa set up an equity committee in 2018, as well as HR policies in favor of breastfeeding women, going beyond Honduran labor law. This means that 38% of this operation qualifies for the “2X Challenge”. 
• The mobilization of USD 20.6m of private finance, i.e. a mobilization ratio of 1.03.