Weekly Roundup: Closing the Entrepreneurial Gender Gap

From CGI America in Denver, CO to the new Yunus Social Business Centre to be opened in Worcester, MA, there has been a lot of recent buzz about financial inclusion and entrepreneurship.

• Grameen America was honored to participate in the CGI America conference in Denver, CO. There was an encouraging emphasis on empowerment through social enterprise and financial opportunity. Last year, Grameen America announced a commitment to invest $50 million in women-owned businesses in Harlem at the CGI Annual Meeting, and we are on track to meet that goal.
• The Wall Street Journal recently highlighted the growing gender gap in entrepreneurship in the United States. According to the article, women opened only 36.8% of new businesses in 2014. While this statistic illustrates the obstacles that women entrepreneurs face in this economic climate, it also represents an opportunity for expanding access to affordable credit and financial services for women-owned businesses in the United States.
• Last week, Becker College in Worchester, MA announced the inauguration of the Yunus Social Business Centre, set to open in the fall of 2016. This will be the first Yunus Centre in the United States, and the 16th worldwide, and will “focus on identifying real-world social problems (and) creating innovative, self-sustaining solutions to transform lives and communities.” 
• President and CEO of Grameen America Andrea Jung highlighted the importance of global engagement and personal reinvention in leadership in her keynote address at the Association for Talent Development (ADT) conference last month. “Leadership is about purpose not power. Business can be a path to purpose,” Andrea Jung explained.