02/09/2026
When Trust Becomes Capital: How Standard Chartered Standard Chartered Bank Is Backing Women to Build Bigger
For many women entrepreneurs, the hardest door to open is not the market—it is the door to institutional trust.
Standard Chartered is helping to change that narrative by putting women-led businesses closer to the centre of finance, opportunity and growth.
Through initiatives such as the Women’s International Network (SC WIN) and Women in Tech, the bank is going beyond funding to provide mentorship, business skills, networks and access to markets.
Its partnerships to connect women-owned businesses with global supply chains further strengthen the pathway from small enterprise to scalable business.
The significance is bigger than any single programme. When a major financial institution backs women entrepreneurs, it sends a powerful message to the market: women-led businesses are not charity cases; they are credible businesses, investment opportunities and engines of economic growth.
That is the real value of institutional trust. It gives entrepreneurs more than money—it gives them credibility, connections and the confidence to scale.
But the work cannot stop here. More banks, investors, policymakers and private-sector leaders must step forward to build systems where women can access capital, markets and networks on equal terms.
The goal should be clear: not simply to help more women start businesses, but to give more women the institutional backing to build businesses that scale, employ and transform economies.
Because when we invest in women entrepreneurs, we are not just backing individual businesses—we are backing the future of the economy.
POV: Khadijah Okunnu at the Standard Chartered Wealth Solutions 2026 Economic Outlook
