IFC's International Women Day's Celebration: Reinforcing IFC's Commitment to Create Opportunities for Women in Business

March 5, 2009 – On the occasion of International Women's Day, IFC, member of the World Bank Group, celebrated a range of achievements that better leverage the untapped potential of women in emerging markets. The day of celebration also offered an occasion for participants to share lessons learned on how to create more opportunities for women in business world wide.


2009 IFC Gender Award Goes to Africa MSME Team


This year's IFC Gender Award was presented to IFC's Africa Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise (AMSME) team. The AMSME team received top marks for ensuring that program benefits are appropriately and adequately directed to women, who make up an important, high-potential, and underserved segment of Africa.

IFC CEO Lars Thunell, who hosted the gender award luncheon, said, "I've been to 78 countries in three years. What's moved me most is the spirit of women entrepreneurs. They are the key to economic growth and recovery."

At NBS Malawi, the country's 4th largest bank, the AMSME team helped grow the percentage of women in the small and medium enterprises portfolio from 14 percent to 37 percent in one year. The team also recently signed an agreement with ETI, a leading Pan African regional bank, to work on an advisory services program that would reach 1,500 women with small and medium enterprises in five countries.

Also participating in IFC's International Women's Day Celebration was Standard Chartered CEO Peter Sands. Standard Chartered will host the 2009 Global Banking Alliance for Women (GBA) Summit in Singapore in October. The Alliance is an essential IFC partner comprised of 18 financial institutions from around the world that have successfully leveraged the women's market for profit and strive to accelerate the growth of women in business and women's wealth creation worldwide.

"Policymakers are searching for answers to the present economic situation," Thunell said. "We've got the answer: invest in women entrepreneurs."


IFC CEO Gender Award

The award drew a total of 34 nominations for 19 initiatives across IFC. "Each nomination told a great story," said Zouera Youssoufou, head of IFC's Gender Program. "We were impressed by the variety of interventions that IFC staff undertook to better reach women entrepreneurs through our advisory and investment work: reaching from cotton lending in Tajikistan and training seed farmers in Bangladesh to promoting women in mining in Ghana."
Nominations were solicited from within IFC through an open call for nominations and evaluated by a Selection Committee comprised of IFC staff representing all regions, sectors, and various grade levels.


A Day of Celebration

IFC's International Women's Day Celebration kicked off with a discussion on a Gender Investment Index that has the goal to demonstrate to investors that gender equality is an important indicator of a company's financial health. This innovative research work is being jointly implemented by IFC; Pax World, a leader in the field of sustainable investing; and KLD, an independent investment research firm.
A panel discussion on Investing in Women Entrepreneurs followed, where discussants stressed the importance of continued efforts to promote investments in women entrepreneurs, particularly during the financial crisis. Click here [PDF] for more information on this session and download the presentations below:

• Access to Finance for Women Entrepreneurs: Importance and Success by Muni Shonibare, CEO IO Furniture
• NBS Bank Women Entrepreneurs Program by Gilford Kadzakumanja, NBS Bank Limited

Following an IFC Gender Award luncheon, where Ritu Sharma of WomenThrive gave a key note speech, was a session on "Making the Business Enabling Environment Work for Women Entrepreneurs". Participants focused on the legal and regulatory obstacles women entrepreneurs face in starting up and growing their businesses. The session included action item examples for policy makers. Download the presentations below:

• Strategic Relevance of Gender in the Investment Climate by Cecile Fruman, Manager, Strategy and Analysis Investment Climate Department, IFC
• Making Business Enabling Environment Work for Women Entrepreneurs: A Practical Guide on "How To"s by Sevi Simavi, Program Lead for Gender and BEE, IFC

The day concluded with a cocktail reception hosted by Rachel Kyte, VP for IFC Business Advisory Services.


Related celebrations


In parallel to the events at IFC HQ, Executive Vice President Thierry Tanoh and Regional Country Manager Saleem Karimjee hosted a lunch celebration in the Johannesburg office. Citing the contribution of women to the household and professions, Tanoh encouraged women in the Africa region to excel and show leadership in the workplace.

In continuance of the International Women's Day celebration, during the month of March, business women around the world are taking an e-learning course on corporate social responsibility – an online event for which IFC and the World Bank Institute (WBI) joined forces.


About IFC's Gender Program:
IFC supports the participation of women as well as men, as an important part of its mission to foster sustainable private sector growth in developing countries. Recognizing that aspiring businesswomen are often prevented from realizing their economic potential because of gender inequality, IFC is committed to creating opportunities for women in business.