Pakistan has a women’s entrepreneurship problem, and it’s not motivation or talent. It’s capital.
Women-led businesses in Pakistan remain significantly underserved by formal financial institutions. Many operate informally, lack collateral, or find traditional banking procedures too difficult to navigate leaving them dependent on personal savings or family resources to fund growth. The Express Tribune
That’s the gap the SECP is now trying to close.
What just happened
The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan approved the country’s first digital financing product exclusively designed for women-led MSMEs. The product is called Khudmukhtar Khatoon developed by Walee Financial Services, a licensed non-banking finance company (NBFC). Business Recorder
The name translates to “Empowered Woman.” It enables women entrepreneurs to obtain asset financing ranging from PKR 100,000 to PKR 1.5 million for the purchase of machinery, equipment, and other business-related assets. ARY News
The process is fully digital and Shariah-compliant. Applicants apply through Walee’s lending app, Hakeem. Repayment happens in monthly instalments over a period of up to one year. BOL NewsThe Express Tribune
Why this is notable
This isn’t just another NBFC product. It’s the first time a financing facility in Pakistan has been built, approved, and dedicated exclusively to women-led MSMEs — combining digital access, Islamic finance compliance, and a focus on asset financing rather than nano-loans.
Pakistan has made significant strides in women’s financial inclusion, with over 17 million new women-owned bank accounts opened since 2021. But the next challenge is enabling women-led SMEs to actually scale beyond microfinance. The Express Tribune
Khudmukhtar Khatoon sits in that in-between space above the microfinance ceiling, below the threshold of formal bank financing that most women-led businesses still can’t access.
The NBFC sector is also growing up
Lending NBFCs collectively disbursed approximately Rs111 billion in financing to around 7.5 million micro and small businesses during July–December 2025. The approval of this product lets Walee Financial Services expand from consumer financing into the MSME segment a meaningful shift. Business Recorder
The regulator is clearly using NBFCs as the instrument of choice for reaching underserved segments that conventional banks have historically ignored.
The bigger picture
Expanding access to Shariah-compliant SME financing, credit guarantees, and cash-flow based lending can unlock a significant untapped segment and contribute to economic growth, job creation, and women’s economic empowerment and this approval is a step toward making that happen through infrastructure, not just intent. The Express Tribune
Whether this product reaches the women it’s designed for at scale will depend on execution: awareness, app adoption, and whether credit assessments are designed with the reality of informal businesses in mind. But the regulatory green light is the first move. And in Pakistan’s fintech landscape, that’s not a small thing.
