Women Entrepreneurs Leveraging Innovative Finance in Tonga Project (ADB-59004-001)

Regions
  • East Asia and Pacific
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Countries
  • Tonga
Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.
Financial Institutions
  • Asian Development Bank (ADB)
International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.
Project Status
Approved
Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.
Bank Risk Rating
C
Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."
Voting Date
Dec 11, 2025
Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.
Borrower
Government of Tonga - Ministry of Finance
A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.
Sectors
  • Finance
  • Industry and Trade
The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.
Investment Type(s)
Grant
The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.
Investment Amount (USD)
$ 9.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Project Cost (USD)
$ 9.00 million
Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Bank Documents
Media Documents
Primary Source

Original disclosure @ ADB website

Updated in EWS Apr 22, 2026

Disclosed by Bank Dec 11, 2025

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Project Description
If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the Bank’s website, the Women Entrepreneurs Leveraging Innovative Finance in Tonga (WE-LIFT) project, financed through an Asian Development Fund grant under the Sustainable Development Goal 5: Transformative Gender Agenda thematic window and designed using a financial intermediation modality, aims to accelerate women entrepreneurs' access to finance and strengthen their entrepreneurial and financial capabilities in Tonga, a small island economy facing structural vulnerabilities and gender-based exclusion. The project responds to barriers disproportionately faced by women entrepreneurs, including limited collateral due to land ownership restrictions, high informality, and inadequate business development services (BDS), by (i) establishing Tonga's first risk-sharing facility (RSF) to ease collateral constraints and unlock bank lending to women entrepreneurs through partial credit guarantees; (ii) introducing an enablement fund offering grants to improve the bankability of informal micro and small enterprises; and (iii) delivering tailored BDS, through the proposed business advisory hub, to align with the daily realities of women entrepreneurs and enhance their financial, digital, and business management skills. By strengthening sex-disaggregated data systems, the project will also support the design of inclusive financial products, tailored support services, and policies that advance gender-responsive private sector development in Tonga.

The project is aligned with the following impacts: (i) more inclusive, sustainable, and empowering human development with gender equality enhanced; and (ii) inclusive and sustainable growth of MSMEs promoted. The project will have the following outcome: women entrepreneurs’ capacity to access and effectively use finance for business growth improved.

Early Warning System Project Analysis
For a project with severe or irreversible impacts to local community and natural resources, the Early Warning System Team may conduct a thorough analysis regarding its potential impacts to human and environmental rights.

In compliance with ADB’s Safeguard Policy Statement (2009), the project’s safeguard categories are environment (category FI-C), involuntary resettlement (category FI-C), and Indigenous Peoples (category FI-C). Civil works are not envisaged given the nature of the intervention; and the project is expected to have minimal or no adverse environmental, involuntary resettlement, and Indigenous Peoples impacts.

Investment Description
Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

The government has requested a grant of $9.0 million from ADB’s Special Funds resources (ADF) to help finance the project.


Contact Information
This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

For the Recipient:

Ministry of Finance
Vuna Road
Nuku'alofa
Kingdom of Tonga
Facsimile Number: 676 240 40

For ADB:

Asian Development Bank
6 ADB Avenue
Mandaluyong City
1550 Metro Manila
Philippines
Facsimile Numbers: (632) 8636-2444

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can submit an information request for project information at: https://www.adb.org/forms/request-information-form

ADB has a two-stage appeals process for requesters who believe that ADB has denied their request for information in violation of its Access to Information Policy. You can learn more about filing an appeal at: https://www.adb.org/site/disclosure/appeals

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF ADB

The Accountability Mechanism is an independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who believe they are likely to be, or have been, adversely affected by an Asian Development Bank-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the Accountability Mechanism, they may investigate to assess whether the Asian Development Bank is following its own policies and procedures for preventing harm to people or the environment. You can learn more about the Accountability Mechanism and how to file a complaint at: http://www.adb.org/site/accountability-mechanism/main.

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How it works