The International Finance Corporation, IFC, has estimated that women-owned enterprises experience an annual deficit of about $1.5trn in required financing.
The data was part of the discussions at a global forum on women empowerment recently sponsored by the World Bank in partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
The President of the World Bank, Mr. David Malpass in his opening remarks, said both international financial institutions were working together to promote and support women-owned business enterprises.
According to Malpass, women’s economic empowerment is a global imperative. He stated that the World Bank Group has many strong partners, as it seeks to broaden the empowerment of female entrepreneurs.
Speaking further, Malpass noted that women entrepreneurs have a major impact on communities, not only in socio-economic terms but also as change agents.
Mrs. Ivanka Trump a Senior Adviser to the United States Government and another panellist at the forum giving her perspective, stressed that access to capital has been challenging for women.
“In 70 per cent of the developing world, women face an inability to access capital or funding from institutions” Trump said.
The Chairman of Banco Santander, a leading European bank Ana Botin, who also featured in the panel session said “We need to encourage women to be confident, especially enable them to believe in themselves, starting when they are girls.”
Also, giving his thoughts at the forum, the Chairman of Goldman Sachs, a leading global investment bank, Mr. David Solomon, said the GSK10KWomen Initiative was launched to explore the potentials for women, which recorded enormous success.
