October 15, 2013 By specialguest
A meeting to promote financial Inclusion for Africa Women especially in the diaspora London. In a bid to achieve sustainable development in Africa and for the African people globally through promoting financial inclusion especially for women, Alliance 54 is hosting the Africa Global Women in Business Forum in London on 30th – 31st, October, 2013.
This initiative according to Ernest Okwudike, Founder and Conference Director of Alliance 54, was inspired by the call and need for action by all stakeholders to change the destiny of Africa and the African people for best.
Global news is awash with so much reports and information on the rising status of Africa. There has been consistent economic growth of over 5% in the continent; however, this does not necessarily reflect development in the different countries especially in the rural areas.
That said, concrete steps needed to be taken very quickly to ensure that there is a balance between growth and development, and when we look at development issues in Africa, one very important aspect that seem to be overlooked but needs urgent attention in order to develop the region is goal number 3 of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) – To promote Gender Equality and Empower Women.
Now, African women play a significant role in the socio-economic development of the continent. They produce 80% of food in Africa through the micro-enterprises and Small and Medium business that they operate. Yet, they remain grossly underserved in spite of the massive contribution. In her statement, Thelma Williams, Head of Development and the Conference Manager said that they are still faced with unequal treatments and underserved stereotypical barriers including lack of access to land, bank accounts and other ‘cultural hindrances’.
Even though there has been an increase in the number of women-run enterprises from 10% to 30%, more still have to be done as they only receive 10% of capital invested. Generally, women have unmet financial needs of over US$320 billion yearly as reported by the World Bank. In Africa, the African Development Bank (AfDB) states that they need over $19 billion yearly. Therefore, the Africa Global Women in Business Forum main objective is to explore the financial options available to women entrepreneurs
The forum aims to promote financial inclusion for the African women especially for those in the diaspora who still run businesses back home and abroad. In a statement by Toyin Adeniji, Head of Women in Business Program at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), she stated that it is an exciting initiative and one that will add to the on-going conversation regarding growth and support to women owned business in Africa. Also, the focus is to discuss practical solutions to the challenges that they (women) encounter daily in their businesses, with inspiration from successful business women and the meeting is also open to men that are interested in the discourse.
For the first time, the forum will be emphasising on the importance of developing collaboration with global counterparts to achieve common goals. Ernest argues that ‘we cannot divorce Africans from the global partners, the world is a global village and there are foreigners working and living in Africa and they have committed their lives and work to ensure that there is development there and vice versa. Our plan as a company is to see how we could promote these healthy and beneficial partnerships for the good of all and global economies.
More information about the forum could access at http://www.agwibf.com/
Early bird registration currently on for first 50 respondents on a first come first serve basis and it expires on August 31, 2013.
Contact: Ernest Okwudike Phone: +44(0)7909 468 059 Email: ernest(at)alliance54(dot)com
Website: http://www.agwibf.com
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