100 Women in Finance and UNCDF Partner to Expand Mentorship Networks for Women in Finance to Africa

The United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), the UN aid agency mandated to make finance work for the poor in the world’s Least Developed Countries, today announced that it has established a partnership with 100 Women in Finance (100WF) that will support women in the finance industry and expand access to mentorship, leadership resources, and networking for women in Africa.

The collaboration between UNCDF and 100WF supports the empowerment of women in regions of Africa who either work in finance or have an interest in entering the field, through such initiatives as:

• Jointly reaching out to female financial leaders in Africa;
• Working to provide young women globally access to mentorship, membership in 100WF, and role models of successful female leaders in finance;
• The opportunity to participate in visibility programs offered through 100WF, and,
• Organizing events, webinars, and social media content to achieve these goals.

“We are very pleased to partner with 100WF, which shares our goal of empowering women around the world,” said Preeti Sinha, UNCDF Executive Secretary. “Having worked in finance myself, I know the value of professional networks, peer support, mentorship and role models for young women early in their careers. UNCDF is grateful to our Goodwill Ambassador Sonia Gardner for developing this partnership and looks forward to expanding 100WF’s networks in developing countries to bring more visibility and opportunity to the female finance leaders of tomorrow.”

“100WF is proud to partner with UNCDF in supporting broader access to the educational events and mentorship opportunities we provide to women in finance,” said Amanda Pullinger, CEO of 100WF. “This partnership will, among other things, help us achieve our goals in Africa where we are looking to create online programming featuring women in finance roles for global distribution, and to enable role model connectivity between women in finance roles and female students in the region.”

“Bringing together these two extraordinary organizations is an important development that promises to drive powerful results in terms of supporting women in the finance industry and expanding access to mentorship, leadership resources, and finance for women in developing countries,” said Sonia Gardner, UNCDF Goodwill Ambassador for Gender Equality in Access to Finance, and Chairman Emeritus of 100WF. “Women across the world face many barriers in seeking success in financial careers. That’s why the expansion of UNCDF and 100WF mentorship and training programs to a new generation of female financial leaders in developing countries is an essential step that will have an impact.”

About 100 Women in Finance

100 Women is a nonprofit organization that seeks to strengthen the global finance industry by empowering women to achieve their professional potential at each career stage. Its members inspire, equip and advocate for a new generation of industry leadership, in which women and men serve as investment professionals and executives, equal in achievement and impact . Through Education, Peer Engagement and Impact, the organization furthers the progress of women who have chosen finance as a career and enables their positive influence over pre-career young women.

About UNCDF

The UN Capital Development Fund makes public and private finance work for the world’s 46 least developed countries (LDCs). UNCDF offers “last mile” finance models that unlock public and private resources, especially at the domestic level, to reduce poverty and support local economic development. UNCDF’s financing models work through three channels: (1) inclusive digital economies, which connects individuals, households, and small businesses with financial eco-systems that catalyze participation in the local economy, and provide tools to climb out of poverty and manage financial lives; (2) local development finance, which capacitates localities through fiscal decentralization, innovative municipal finance, and structured project finance to drive local economic expansion and sustainable development; and (3) investment finance, which provides catalytic financial structuring, de-risking, and capital deployment to drive SDG impact and domestic resource mobilization.

6 April 2021

UNCDF