Halkbank Supports Women Entrepreneurship

Women’s entrepreneurship remains one of Türkiye’s most underutilized economic drivers. As of 2024, women’s labor force participation was just 37.5%, and female entrepreneurship stood at 18.2%, far below global average of 34.7%. Despite efforts across sectors, women in Türkiye face persistent barriers in access to capital, visibility, formal training, and scale-up opportunities.
In response to this structural gap, Halkbank launched a visionary initiative in 2021 by establishing country’s first and only Women’s Entrepreneurship Banking Department. Unlike traditional CSR projects or limited-scope credit lines, this department was created as a permanent institutional structure tasked with building a full ecosystem to empower women entrepreneurs financially, socially, and professionally.
Over the past four years, the department has evolved into a holistic platform offering tailored credit programs, educational tools, export facilitation, and youth-focused innovation. It is now a benchmark model, inspiring others to adopt gender-responsive frameworks. With institutional commitment and growing nationwide reach, Halkbank’s women-focused ecosystem continues to shape Türkiye’s inclusive growth agenda.

Since 2022, Halkbank has expanded its reach and relevance in Türkiye’s entrepreneurship ecosystem through targeted programs, digital innovation, and evidence-based design. While the Bank continues to lead with its comprehensive loan offerings providing 96 billion TL in credit to 250,000 women entrepreneurs, its real transformation lies in strategic shift from financing to capability building.
Halkbank pioneered Türkiye’s first full range of financial products tailored for women entrepreneurs, from credit cards to insurance, export loans to investment packages. But it didn’t stop there. Recognizing that sustainable empowerment requires more than capital, the Bank shifted focus toward long-term, knowledge-based interventions.
In 2024, Halkbank published Türkiye’s first academic research report on women entrepreneurship, in partnership with Istanbul University. The study diagnosed barriers across financing, formalization, and exports shaping new product designs, training content, and fund criteria.
In 2024, the Bank launched BİGE- Science&Innovation with Girls, a national initiative introducing STEM and entrepreneurship to high school girls. The program featured inspiration sessions in five cities, a hackathon with 20 teams, and an acceleration phase with mentoring, closing with a national demo day.