NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In alignment with the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly, the Women’s Entrepreneurship Accelerator (WEA) is proud to announce a pivotal event spotlighting the pressing gap in financing for women-led businesses. This initiative is a collaborative effort with WEA-participating UN agencies, Mary Kay Global, Yildiz Holding, and the Women Entrepreneurs Act initiative (WE Act) of the Women20 (W20) countries.
“Inclusive Capital: Empowering Women Entrepreneurs on a Global Scale”
Conference Room 2, United Nations Headquarters, NYC
Thursday 21 September 2023. Time: 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm ET
Register here
The event aims to foster dialogue among stakeholders in the women's entrepreneurship ecosystem. Discussions will revolve around the financial challenges women entrepreneurs face, the significance of inclusive investing, and the need for institutional and corporate entities to adopt a gender-inclusive perspective in their decision-making processes.
“Through the inception of the Women’s Entrepreneurship Accelerator, Mary Kay has helped carve a new path of intervention for the private sector,” said Deborah Gibbins, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Financial Officer of Mary Kay Inc. “WEA is a groundbreaking partnership vehicle where the United Nations, public and private sectors, civil society organizations, and policy experts work together to transform the world WITH and FOR women entrepreneurs.”
The evening will commence with welcoming remarks from the executive leadership of UN Women followed by an introduction from Fulya Fraser, Chief Growth Officer at Pladis – part of the Yildiz Holding family of companies.
Two panel sessions will delve deep into the topics at hand:
- Accelerating Agenda 2030 through Women Entrepreneurship - Moderated by Virginia Littlejohn, Global Coordinator for Women Entrepreneurs Act (WE Act) designed to drive W20 action and implementation. The session will explore the "Trillion-dollar Opportunity in Supporting Women Entrepreneurs" and the potential economic impact if women-led businesses surmount financial barriers. Esteemed speakers include executive leaders from WEA UN partner agencies.
- Global Action for Women's Entrepreneurship - This session will spotlight major projects and programs in women entrepreneurship, featuring insights from international development leaders like Adriana Carvalho (W20Brazil), Wendy Teleki (World Bank), Marie-Christine Oghly (Femmes Chefs d’ Entreprise Mondiales - FCEM); Catherine Bosshart (Business and Professional Women - BPW), Anne Ravanona (Global InvestHER), Deborah Gibbins, Mary Kay Global, Lamia Kamal-Chaoui (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development - OECD).
The event's keynote will be delivered by Shazi Visram, Founder and CEO of Happy Family brands.
Registration is open until Sunday 17 September 2023 at 11:59 p.m. ET for in-person attendance at the UN Headquarters, NYC. For those unable to attend, the event will be streamed live on the United Nations Web TV website.
For more information and to register, click here.
About the Women’s Entrepreneurship Accelerator
The Women’s Entrepreneurship Accelerator (WEA) is a multi-stakeholder partnership on women’s entrepreneurship established during UNGA 74. It convenes six UN agencies, International Labour Organization (ILO), International Trade Centre (ITC), International Telecommunication Union (ITU), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Global Compact (UNGC), UN Women and Mary Kay Inc. to empower 5 million women entrepreneurs by 2030.
The ultimate goal of the initiative is to maximize the development impact of women entrepreneurship in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by creating an enabling eco-system for women entrepreneurs around the world. The Accelerator exemplifies the transformational power of a multi-partnership of unique magnitude to harness the potential of women entrepreneurs.
Learn more at we-accelerate. Follow us: Twitter/X (We_Accelerator), Instagram (@we_accelerator), Facebook (@womensentrepreneurshipaccelerator), LinkedIn (@womensentrepreneurshipaccelerator)