MOROCCO – Global blockchain development company HashCash Consultants, has announced the launching of a micro-loans lending platform in collaboration with a DeFi (decentralized finance) startup to women entrepreneurs of Morocco.
The blockchain-powered platform will transfer funds to the women who are registered with their verified digital identities.
The platform allows pool-based borrowing wherein lenders provide liquidity to a pool that borrowers may avail themselves of.
The blockchain-backed platform mediates between lenders and women entrepreneurs through virtual smart contracts, an irreversible computer encoded contract linking two parties.
“In such application, smart contracts take over the role of financial institutions that have traditionally acted as guarantors for such transactions,” said Raj Chowdhury, HashCash Consultants’ founder, and CEO.
The smart contract is written that will disburse an allowance from lending account A to recipient account B every Friday until the recipient account has received the required amount.
The micro-loans lending platform is the first step for HashCash consultants as the firm aims to eventually establish a Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO), a computer program keeping track of digital financial transactions.
In addition to promoting entrepreneurship in the MENA region, the venture aims to empower women business makers and allow them access to funds beyond the ‘bureaucracy meted out by financial institutions.’
The launch come at a time when women are still facing many constraints and difficulties in creating their own businesses in Morocco especially when it comes to government support.
Accessing credit is one of the first obstacles that many Moroccan women face when wishing to start or run their own businesses.
Business owners see their credit applications rejected by formal financial institutions due to lack of “suitable collateral” (real estate collateral or cash).
According to the World Bank’s Enterprise Surveys, 78% of the assets of an average SME will be composed of movables property (inventory or stocks, equipment, and accounts receivable) and only 22% of real estate assets.
Women are particularly disadvantaged due to the fact that they own less real estate property than men.
In the North African country financial institutions’ portfolio of loans with women-owned SMEs tend to be significantly lower than the share of women-owned SMEs in their target markets would suggest.
Other than credit access, training is also a crucial part to help women entrepreneurs avoid common mistakes and learn from the errors of existing projects in order to enhance their business and entrepreneurial potential.
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