ACCESS Financial Services Limited has introduced a new financing option designed to serve a group of entrepreneurs often overlooked by conventional credit models: women who have already built viable businesses and are ready to scale.
The new facility, branded Herizon – Women in Business, is aimed squarely at female-led enterprises seeking medium-sized funding — typically between $5 million and $30 million — to expand operations, invest in equipment, or strengthen working capital. It positions itself between microfinance and commercial bank lending, an area where many growing firms find doors unexpectedly closed.
According to Access, the product is a response to patterns observed within its own portfolio. Female entrepreneurs already represent a significant share of its borrowers, and their businesses have demonstrated consistent repayment behaviour, prudent financial management, and durability over time. Herizon, the company says, is less an experiment and more a formal acknowledgement of that performance.
Unlike entry-level business loans, the new facility is structured with expansion in mind. It caters to established companies, particularly in service-oriented fields, light manufacturing, and professional practices, and offers longer repayment periods of up to five years. The pricing model uses reducing-balance interest, while the credit process has been adjusted to better reflect the cash-flow dynamics of firms in growth mode rather than start-up survival.
The launch also signals a broader strategic shift at Access. Historically rooted in microfinance, the institution has steadily diversified its offerings to include personal lending, payroll-linked products, agriculture financing, and working capital for small traders. Herizon now sits at the top end of that continuum, allowing the company to keep clients within its ecosystem as their businesses mature instead of handing them off to traditional banks.
Management notes that interest in the product has been strong since its development phase, particularly from sectors focused on rebuilding, resilience, and essential services. That early demand, they say, confirms the existence of a meaningful gap in the market for mid-sized, relationship-driven business financing.
Herizon’s debut comes at a time when Access itself is reporting solid financial momentum. For the six months ended September 30, 2025, the company recorded higher profitability and steady asset growth, underpinned by rising loan activity across both personal and business segments. While management has flagged potential short-term credit pressure in areas affected by Hurricane Melissa, it maintains that the institution’s capital position and liquidity remain robust.
With Herizon, Access is making a clear bet: that backing proven women-led enterprises at the point of scale is not only commercially sound, but central to the next phase of small-business growth.
