The Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan has approved the country’s first digital financing product dedicated solely to women-led Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises, marking a notable regulatory step toward expanding formal financial access for a segment of entrepreneurs that has traditionally remained underserved by Pakistan’s mainstream lending infrastructure. The product, titled Khudmukhtar Khatoon, has been developed by Walee Financial Services Private Limited and will offer women entrepreneurs asset financing ranging from PKR 100,000 to PKR 1.5 million, with the specific amount determined by the credit assessment outcome for each individual borrower.
The approval reflects SECP’s broader agenda of promoting financial inclusion and expanding access to formal finance channels for women entrepreneurs across Pakistan, a population that has historically faced disproportionate barriers to accessing the capital needed to start, sustain, and grow small businesses. Conventional lending infrastructure in Pakistan has often been poorly suited to the specific circumstances of women-led micro and small enterprises, whether due to collateral requirements that women entrepreneurs are less likely to be able to meet, the absence of formal credit history, or broader structural and social barriers that have limited women’s engagement with formal banking and financing institutions. A dedicated digital product designed specifically around this segment’s needs represents a deliberate regulatory and commercial effort to close that gap.
Khudmukhtar Khatoon is structured as a fully digital, Shariah-compliant asset financing product, meaning that women entrepreneurs will be able to complete the entire financing process without the friction of in-person banking visits or extensive paperwork that has often discouraged smaller borrowers from pursuing formal credit. The product will be offered through Walee Financial Services’ already whitelisted digital lending application, Hakeem, integrating the new MSME-focused offering into an existing platform rather than requiring the launch of an entirely separate application. The financing structure allows approved funds to be used specifically to purchase business-related assets through an integrated marketplace built into the platform, with selected assets delivered directly to the registered address of the borrower, a design that ensures the financing is channelled toward productive business investment rather than general-purpose cash disbursement. Repayment is structured through equal monthly installments over a period of up to twelve months, giving women-led enterprises a manageable cash flow framework within which to acquire productive assets while maintaining financial stability.
Walee Financial Services Private Limited operates as a licensed Non-Banking Finance Company engaged in investment finance services, and has been providing digital nano-financing through its mobile application prior to this approval. The SECP’s approval of Khudmukhtar Khatoon allows the company to expand its operations from consumer-focused financing into the MSME segment specifically, broadening its market positioning and giving it a distinctive product offering within Pakistan’s growing digital lending landscape. This expansion reflects a broader trend within Pakistan’s non-banking finance sector, where lending NBFCs have increasingly played a significant role in extending finance to previously unexplored segments of the economy. Collectively, lending NBFCs disbursed approximately PKR 111 billion to around 7.5 million micro and small businesses during the six-month period from July to December 2025, demonstrating the scale at which digital and alternative finance channels are now operating within Pakistan’s broader micro and small enterprise financing ecosystem, and providing important context for the kind of impact that a dedicated women-focused product like Khudmukhtar Khatoon could achieve as it reaches its target borrower base.
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