Network News

3 Minutes Read

 

This month, we saw incredible activity across our network that highlights the strength and sophistication of members’ nonfinancial services for women.

Garanti BBVA is joining forces with Women in Trade, a platform run by Women Entrepreneurs Association of Türkiye that provides training opportunities, access to public funds and inspiration from successful role models for women entrepreneurs. Garanti BBVA is supporting Women in Trade to organize a series of networking events where women entrepreneurs can exhibit their products and services to buyers across regions and sectors.

Bank of Palestine has opened registration for the sixth cohort of its Palestinian mini-MBA program, a program delivered in partnership with the IFC, Ernst & Young (EY) and Business Women Forum (BWF). The program is designed to support women entrepreneurs by delivering trainings on strategic, legal and financial planning, as well as marketing strategy, sales, customer service, and human resources. It will also offer opportunities to building their leadership capabilities by hearing from successful role models. Forty women applicants will be selected for this cohort and those who complete the program will earn a certificate in Entrepreneurship and Leadership as well as networking opportunities with bank employees.  

ATB Financial launched its Women in Business initiative this month by delivering a training on gender intelligence and unconscious bias to 40 ATB Business Banking frontline team members. The three-day program was accredited by Chartered Banking Institute and facilitated by Everywoman. They are planning a follow-up workshop in October based on the positive feedback they received.

Westpac hosted “Getting Ahead on Tax Time,” a virtual event to help women answer tricky tax questions. Speakers included a finance journalist, an accountant who specializes in small businesses (known as the “Tax Mermaid”), and an Indigenous-founded accounting consultancy that specializes in helping women-owned businesses. They also added two new articles on the Ruby Connection website: “Tips from a Career Coach on How to Start your Own Business” and “Money Tips for Teens and Young Adults.”

Banco Ficohsa published its Grupo Financiero Ficohsa Sustainability Report highlighting the bank’s environmental, social and governance achievements in 2021. As the only financial services group in Honduras to formally measure its environmental footprint, Ficohsa reported a 59-percent reduction in water consumption and a 30-percent reduction in paper consumption in 2021. It also fitted ten offices in Honduras and Nicaragua with solar panels, so an impressive 71 percent of their energy consumption is clean energy.

Stanbic Kenya celebrated the third anniversary of its women-centered DADA program by hosting a breakfast for women clients. The breakfast featured a keynote address by the former President of Malawi, H.E. Joyce Banda, amongst other distinguished women speakers from the Kenyan government and banking associations. They also celebrated DADA internally by decorating branch offices, rewarding DADA employees, and hosting a women-centered trivia to promote awareness throughout the organization.

Zanaco provided several nonfinancial services focused on Access to Markets for its Women in Business customers. The bank hosted talks with various players in the export market, including a certification agency and the national trade institution and manufacturing association. It also provided Women in Business clients with sponsorship to networking events where they could display their products and services and share information on relevant financial solutions. For example, the bank had experts share information on effectively managing informal savings groups to drive usage of its informal savings product, Village Banking.

SME Finance Forum, National Bank of Cambodia, is hosting the 9th Global SME Finance Forum. This year’s event will focus on the power of digital transformation in promoting inclusive, sustainable, and responsible finance for MSMEs. Taking place on September 19-21 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, the three-day conference will explore how digitalization can promote and accelerate green finance, enhance supply-chain efficiencies, improve data security, and automate processes while also leading to greater financial inclusion.