Guangdong loan program aids 1.58 million women

The Women's Entrepreneurship Small Guarantee Loan Subsidy Program has directly benefited 158,000 women and indirectly helped 1.58 million women start businesses and find employment in Guangdong province over 15 years.

According to a statement released by the Guangdong Women's Federation, the program, established in 2011, mainly targets women under 60 years old with registered residence in Guangdong who are healthy, honest, and trustworthy, with the labor skills and entrepreneurial ability to start a business.

Among them, priorities are given to the rural bellwethers, college graduates, migrant workers returning to their hometowns to start businesses, and women with entrepreneurial intentions, abilities, and projects among online merchants, said the statement.

Under the program, the provincial finance department provides interest subsidies for entrepreneurial loans used by eligible women for business startup, production, and operation.

The loan term is generally from one to two years. The maximum single household loan limit for women is 100,000 yuan ($14,084).

Each prefecture-level city can annually recommend five to ten female leaders of family farms and professional large households, as well as leaders of cooperatives and production bases with demonstration and promotion significance, to apply for a loan of up to 300,000 yuan.

The program has now allocated 179.94 million yuan to implement 5 phases of the project. The fifth phase alone has been granted 30.94 million yuan.

The sixth phase of the project is in the startup stage, the statement added.