The International Cooperation and Development Fund (ICDF) yesterday said it established a microfinance fund in Eswatini this year to support woman-led start-ups.
Hsieh Pei-fen (謝佩芬), deputy secretary-general of the Taiwan ICDF, a government-funded agency running foreign-aid programs, reported the agency’s activities and upcoming projects at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Taiwan launched a US$1 million “Women Business Start-up Microfinance Revolving Fund” in January to empower women in Eswatini, she said.
Photo courtesy of the International Cooperation and Development Fund
Through the establishment of the Kuyenteka Savings and Credit Cooperative Society and cooperation with Eswatini’s government agencies and schools, microbusiness consultation agencies were set up to train local female entrepreneurs in capacity management and sales capabilities, Hsieh said.
The fund began receiving applications in March and has disbursed US$296,845 to support 279 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in Eswatini as of last month, she said, adding that the majority are in the Hhohho and Manzini regions.
One of the first applicants was a woman named Nomfundo Mabuza from the Lubombo region who owns an agricultural business, she said.
Mabuza received a 20,000 emalangeni (US$1,146) loan in March, which she used to buy high-quality corn and vegetable seeds, and expand the cultivation area and upgrade farming techniques, Hsieh said.
The increased harvest doubled her income to about 50,000 emalangeni, and she was able to fully pay off the loan last month, she added.
The Taiwanese embassy in Eswatini last week wrote on Facebook that Mabuza has become a key corn supplier for vendors in South Africa and her local community.
During her entrepreneurial journey, Mabuza gave birth to a girl and named her “Taiwan” as tribute to the support, which “transformed her life,” Hsieh said.
Meanwhile, ministry spokesman Jeff Liu (劉永健) responded to reporters’ questions on international affairs.
Liu was asked about China’s state-run China Central Television running a clip of a Taiwanese man in Lebanon who evacuated the country with Chinese nationals saying: “We evacuate together as one Chinese identity... Our motherland is China.”
“If this isn’t cognitive warfare, then what is?” Liu asked, adding that “China is using the incident of assisting our citizens to leave Lebanon to hype up the ‘motherland’ issue, aimed at downgrading Taiwan’s sovereign status.”
When the Israel-Hamas war broke out on Oct. 7 last year and Taiwan’s representative office in Israel was helping Taiwanese leave the country, the government had also agreed to allow some Chinese to board Taiwan’s evacuation flights based on the universal value of borderless humanitarian aid, Liu added.
Asked about Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s proposal to form an “Asian NATO,” the spokesman said MOFA has no comment on the issue.
Taiwan and Japan face China’s threat to national security, especially as it consistently sends military aircraft and navy vessels to harass and enter both countries’ airspace and territorial waters, Liu said.
“Taiwan will continue to work with Japan, the US and other like-minded countries to defend the rules-based international order, and maintain peace, stability and prosperity in the region,” he said.
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