The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the US government’s development finance institution, has announced an intent to lend up to $100m under Goldman Sachs’ Women Entrepreneurs Opportunity Facility (WEOF).

Elizabeth Littlefield, OPIC’s President and CEO, said: “With a development finance portfolio reaching over 100 countries worldwide, OPIC aims to create inclusive, bottom-up economic growth across the developing world.”

“This Goldman Sachs initiative is well-aligned with OPIC’s mission, and I look forward to the possibilities that can result from OPIC and IFC’s participation in it. Empowering women to lead more of global business, especially at the SME level, is necessary for whole-of-society development progress,” she said.

Launched in 2014, the $600m finance facility aims to help close an estimated $285bn credit gap for women-owned small and medium enterprises (SMEs) around the world and reach 100,000 women entrepreneurs globally.

Jin-Yong Cai, Executive Vice President and CEO, IFC, said: “Nearly three-quarters of small- and medium-sized businesses owned by women have little or no access to financial services. Addressing that need will create jobs and improves lives for future generations. Partnerships like this are the key to making it happen.”

To date, the facility has completed nine transactions totaling $180m in nine countries that will reach 25,000 women entrepreneurs.

OPIC’s involvement will continue to increase the reach of the facility and the number of women who have access to formal credit through new transactions in OPIC-eligible countries.

Goldman Sachs 10,000 Women and IFC provided anchor investments of more than $150m to create the facility last year.

Through this partnership, the institutions are working with local banks in emerging markets to catalyze existing capital for women-owned SMEs by addressing barriers in the lending market such as unsuitable product offerings and credit terms.

For example, in the past year, the facility began collaborating with Chase Bank Kenya, the only bank with dedicated branches for women in Kenya, to expand their portfolio of loans to women-owned SMEs.

The Facility is also working with local banks in eight other countries, including Brazil, China, Costa Rica, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, India, Indonesia and Laos.

Dina Habib Powell, Head of Goldman Sachs’ Impact Investing business and President of the Goldman Sachs Foundation, said: “A wide range of surveys including Goldman Sachs research shows that one of the biggest obstacles to growth for women entrepreneurs is access to capital and closing this gap could increase per capita income by 12% in emerging markets.”

“This new commitment will help bring us closer to our goal of getting more capital into the hands of women entrepreneurs who will drive future growth and job creation in economies around the world,” she added.

The OPIC’s milestone was recognized by President Barack Obama in his remarks at the 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Summit this weekend in Nairobi, Kenya.