PRESS RELEASES

Shaking Up the Status Quo: Women’s World Banking Develops Women Leaders from Across the Globe

— High-level Women in Leadership course for microfinance executives will be co-sponsored by Accenture and the Wharton Center for Leadership, July 16-20.

New York, NY — Nurturing leadership skills in women from societies where women leaders’ voices are seldom heard is the goal of a five-day workshop for women executives from Jordan to Pakistan to Zimbabwe. It will be held in New York City, July 16-20.

For the second year running, Women’s World Banking (WWB) — a global non-profit network that provides financial services to the world’s poorest entrepreneurs — will hold a hands-on workshop for 34 women executives from microfinance institutions in 15 developing countries. Its purpose is to ensure that women have the cutting-edge skills, creativity, vision and confidence to continue to lead the rapidly expanding, global microfinance industry, which provides credit and other financial services to millions of low-income women and men.

Microfinance services — small loans, savings, insurance and other services — enable women to launch or expand small businesses, earn money, improve their standing in their homes and communities, and meet their families’ needs for better nutrition, housing, health care and education.

“Microfinance has come of age in recent years,” says Mary Ellen Iskenderian, President and CEO of WWB. “With the industry’s dynamic growth and expansion comes the risk of a shift in priorities away from serving the poor — especially women. Microfinance has become an increasingly attractive market for mainstream banks. This is a good thing, but at the same time the industry must maintain its focus on the economic empowerment of low-income women entrepreneurs and their families. One of our top priorities is ensuring that women continue to be strong leaders of microfinance institutions, so that these institutions never lose sight of their mission.”

The workshop is co-sponsored by Accenture, the global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, and the Wharton Center for Leadership and Change Management of the University of Pennsylvania. For the first time this year, women executives from Morgan Stanley will participate in a long-distance mentoring program with selected participants. The Financial Women’s Association of New York is also sponsoring a scholarship for one participant.

“In our co-sponsorship of this workshop, as well as our ongoing work with WWB on other strategic and organizational change initiatives, Accenture’s objective is to help affect significant, long-lasting change,” said Beth Roberts, a senior executive in Accenture’s Financial Services industry group and WWB board member. “Our hope is that programs such as this workshop can influence the microfinance market sector - and the millions of women who are positively impacted by it - for generations to come.”

Women middle managers from microfinance institutions in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Eastern Europe will attend the workshop. Faculty will include Anne Cummings, course co-director and associate professor of management at the University of Minnesota, Duluth; Prof. Michael Useem, director of the Wharton Center; and key members of the WWB global team, based in New York City.

Workshop participants will include a general manager from Kenya, a finance manager from Russia, a director of operations from Mexico, an executive director from Tunisia and a human resources manager from Colombia. Workshop sessions will examine the components of great leadership, including vision, strategic thinking, integrity and communication skills.

Professor Useem of the Wharton Center, who also taught at last year’s workshop, said there was a palpable sense of mission among the workshop participants. “I work with dozens of groups from many different countries,” he says. “This group of women had very high energy, and they were very engaged and eager to master the art of leadership. People in the microfinance world have a cause. They know that what they’re doing is making a difference to poor women by the hundreds of thousands. There’s a sense of purpose and a confidence that comes through.”

“What distinguishes WWB is our focus on women’s leadership,” says Cecille Zacarias, senior manager of WWB’s Organizational Effectiveness Team and course co-director. “We not only look at women as clients; we want our women clients to have role models in our partner institutions. When there are meetings about microfinance, when policy issues are discussed, we want to make sure women always have a voice – that they always have a seat at the table.”

WWB launched the Women’s Leadership Development Program in 2006, in partnership with Accenture and the Wharton Center, to help ensure that microfinance institutions continue to be led by women and serve women, especially at a time when mainstream banks are starting to enter the microfinance market. Established in 1976, WWB today consists of 53 microfinance institutions and banks in 29 countries. WWB’s network members focus primarily on women clients, and most are women-led as well.

For more information on the workshop, please contact Elizabeth Lynch, Senior Associate, Women’s World Banking, at elynch@swwb.org or 212-768-8513, ext. 2110.