The W20 is asking G20 Leaders, Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors to measure a gap they have long discussed. Its 2026 entrepreneurship brief sets a goal of “gender-disaggregated MSME lending in supervisory reporting by 10 national G20 members” by 2028, rising to 19 by 2036. For banks and other lenders, the ask matters because it would turn a policy theme into a reporting line.
The W20 has already drawn attention to the brief’s procurement target. The lending data target is a separate item with its own schedule and audience in the finance track.
The size of the gap
The brief puts the total finance gap for micro, small and medium enterprises at $5.7 trillion, equal to 19 percent of GDP, based on 2019 data updated in 2025. It attributes $1.9 trillion of that to women-owned firms, or 34 percent of the total in markets measured by the International Finance Corporation. It also cites an estimate that closing the entrepreneurship gap could add 2 to 6 percent to global GDP.
The W20’s argument is that those numbers cannot be tracked well without common data. Its second recommendation asks for “a gender-disaggregated data architecture covering participation, size, financing, procurement, exports, and digital adoption.”
Definitions come first
The first recommendation is about definitions. The brief asks governments to adopt definitions of women-owned and women-led business aligned with ISO/IWA 34:2021, “so firms can be identified, compared, and served.” The brief cites the OECD–We-Fi methodology on gender-disaggregated data as a further reference.
Financing itself comes fourth. The W20 calls for closing the gap “with risk-sharing, collateral reform, and a missing-middle capital ladder.”
How it would be measured
The brief proposes twelve metrics, tracked from a baseline phase in 2027 and 2028. Results would be consolidated in an annual enabling-environment assessment by the Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion, “operational by 2027 and reported to the Finance Track.”
That would add to work the partnership already does. Its website describes a 2024 G20 action plan on MSME financing and the G20 Financial Inclusion Indicators, which measure the accessibility, use and quality of financial services.
Three results are due by 2028: the lending data target, a rise in women’s procurement share from about 1 percent toward 3 to 5 percent, and a baseline for women-owned firms’ use of AI in core operations.
The business engagement group is working on an overlapping issue. The B20 Leaders’ Statement says it will “continue toward B20 2025 goal of reducing the MSME finance gap to 30% globally.”
The W20 brief is an advocacy document, and the G20 has not adopted its targets. As of November 5, the W20 documents page lists no 2026 communiqué, and G20 leaders meet in Miami on December 14 and 15.
