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Highlighting the stories of three successful women entrepreneurs, “Taking Women-owned Businesses to the Next Level” focused on the barriers women face when trying to build and expand their businesses.
The session featured Nour Al-Hassan, who transformed her translation business from two employees to more than 200; Win Win Tint, who expanded her family’s single supermarket into a leading modern retail company; and Anta Bathily, who worked her way up from the bottom of her father’s poultry business to lead the company’s efforts to diversify into other agribusiness enterprises.
Women entrepreneurs not only need access to finance, but they also need access to mentoring, technology, and knowledge, according to a panel discussion hosted by World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim.
Kim was joined on the panel by Ivanka Trump, advisor to the US President, who spurred efforts to create the Women Entrepreneurs Financing Initiative (We-Fi), a new facility backed by 14 countries to help knock down the unfair and unequal obstacles that stifle women-owned business. We-Fi, which held its first operational meeting this week, has just opened its doors for business. It’s the first significant fund committed to a holistic approach to support women-owned businesses, leveraging public and private sector efforts.
