"Mobile technology" turns women in developing countries into entrepreneurs IFC Vice President Nena Stoiljkovic, Vice President of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is a member of the World Bank Group and offers support to the private sector in developing countries. IFC's work covers a variety of fields in multiple countries, including comprehensive efforts on gender discrimination and gender equality. We met with IFC Vice President Nena Stoiljkovic who was in Japan for the international conference "World Assembly for Women: WAW!" and talked about support for women.
Of IFC's many missions, supporting female entrepreneurs is very important. We have a network of around 800 local banks in developing countries, through which we offer support to make it easier for women to join the market and provide finances for women entrepreneurs in their respective countries. Without access to finance, it is virtually impossible to maintain a business, is it not? According to estimates, women manage over 30% of legitimate businesses registered in the world. However, 70% of women-managed SMEs in developing countries cannot get access to finance. Blended finance for support in developing countries In 2008 IFC launched a program called "Banking on Women," which has provided 1.6 billion dollars in loans and technical support to over 100 thousand entrepreneurs, through more than 40 local banks across the globe. A new initiative was announced at the G-20 Leaders Summit in 2017 and launched at the World Bank Group-IMF Annual Meetings after that, which is called "Women Entrepreneurship Financing Initiative (We-Fi)." The aim is to leverage $340 million provided by 14 governments, including Japan, to mobilize additional funds of over $1 billion dollars from international financial institutions and the private sector. [We- Fi is a collaborative partnership among governments, multilateral development banks and other stakeholders]. This will help remove restrictions and obstacles women face in many countries for access to finance. This funding combined with commercial lending from IFC and private investors is called blended finance. If this finance can make it easier for local banks to extend loans, I think we can increase commercial lending to women five-fold.
Within the next several years, we plan to lend up to several billions of dollars to many female entrepreneurs in developing countries, but this is still very small compared to the actual demand. The lack of funding for women in developing countries reaches around $300 billion a year. I hope this new approach will help create greater opportunities for women by combining blended finance and technical support tailored to women. "Mobile technology" turns women in developing countries into entrepreneurs IFC Vice President Mobile technology is key in financing for female entrepreneurs in developing countries
There are several obstacles for access to finance for female entrepreneurs in developing countries. The first is lack of networks. In developing countries, this is particularly a problem to women. Compared to men, women generally spend a lot of time at home. In addition, many do not have mobile devices and have very few contacts, which makes it difficult to get support. Women find it difficult to get legal or accounting advice, making it hard to plan the start-up of a company. The second is regulations on property ownership. Some developing countries do not allow women to own property such as houses or land. Yet in most cases, banks will not extend loans without collateral in the form of real estate. To solve this problem, we are providing advice to the governments of these countries to allow women ownership of property, and to the banks to extend loans without collateral or using jewelry and other items as collateral. Another problem, not necessarily related to financing, is that women are too busy raising children and do not have time to spend on businesses. To solve this problem, companies are expected to offer child care support and other types of support. Domestic violence is another problem. There are still many problems unrelated to financing that women face when starting a business. In view of these circumstances, we consider mobile devices to be an important point in promoting financing for women in emerging markets. Mobile technology gives women in remote areas a higher chance of getting a loan and starting a business. That said, there are still 1.7 billion women in the world who do not own a mobile device. We must keep making efforts to give women access to mobile technology.
The private sector is the key driver IFC deals exclusively with clients in the private sector. Our services are offered to the world via the private sector. On the other hand, governments are expected to drive regulatory reform to make the most of private businesses and help businesses accept women. Some examples are to resolve the problem of collaterals, as I mentioned earlier, or make maternity leave and child care support mandatory at companies. I think the private sector plays an important role in gender equality. They have the crucial task of employing women, training women for management positions, generating female role models, and more. For example, there was one company in India with no female employees. IFC offered advice in the form of a simple solution that of "making a women's bathroom." This was a huge factor in employing women, more so than other complicated things like creating a child care facility. According to some data, companies with female executives grow at a faster rate and with higher profitability. They also tend to employ more women. When women
succeed in business, they use the money they earned on their children's education and their families. Their children grow up in a better community and are given a better education. Supporting female entrepreneurs, housewives, female executives and female employees leads to a better world. Nena Stoiljkovic / Vice President of the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Worked as a consultant at the Economic Institute of Belgrade, then joined IFC as an investment officer in 1995. Has been engaged in solving many of the world's problems, including climate change, gender issues, problems in conflict-affected and vulnerable regions, and more. Acquired her MBA at London Business School. One simple thing men can do to promote diversity
Nena Stoiljkovic, Vice President of the International Finance Corporation (IFC) The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is a member of the World Bank Group and offers support to the private sector in developing countries. One of their missions is women's empowerment. Nena Stoiljkovic, Vice President of IFC, was a panelist at the international conference "World Assembly for Women: WAW!" held in Japan. We talked with her about women's careers. I am originally from Serbia. I left my country in 1995 when it was still at war. At the time I was working at a consulting company and thought I could carve out a promising career for myself in my own country, but when I considered the future of my family and myself, I decided it was wiser to leave the country. One thing that helped the move was being accepted to the highly reputable London Business School. Acquiring my MBA there made it easier for me, an Eastern European, to find employment in Western countries. The World Bank strives for
diversity and women's empowerment, and I believe my qualifications as a female from a troubled Eastern European country helped me access to an interview with the World Bank Group. I joined IFC 22 years ago at the lowest ranking professional position, and advanced to my current position over the years. To get here, I merely performed each job well and did my best. IFC encourages that all employees, including women, work at field offices in developing countries, not only the headquarter in Washington. I worked seven years in Europe, including Istanbul and Moscow. At the field offices I was involved in work that I would not have been able to do at the headquarter. Maybe that is how I attracted attention. About six years ago, I was fortunate enough to be promoted to the highest-ranking position in the institution, Vice President, and I have been part of IFC's top management ever since. "Success" makes women shine The bold move I made brought me a wonderful future that I did not even imagine possible, and I have gained self-confidence over the years. Success is very important for women, just as it is for men. On the other hand, I see that many men can bounce back after failure and move forward as if nothing happened, but women are different. Women mull over what they did or what they said. They stop and worry. But life is not a 100-meter race it is a marathon. That is why you must not get too caught up in matters immediately at hand. If you look back at all you have accomplished thus far, you can regain confidence. I have finally learned how to process failure like men, but getting here was not easy. It took about 30 years. I reached this place through hard work and by developing my career.
What you need as a leader Many people say it is important as a leader to have a good network and good mentors, but I was never very enthusiastic about networking. In general, I think men tend to network more than women, through dining or having a coffee together. I would rather finish work early and go home to spend time with my children and husband. I want to keep business trips to the minimum, and I do not have a lot of time for networking. That is why I focus on "networking for work" instead of "networking to build connections." I think the most difficult experience I had as a leader was when there was a major reorganization in my institution, I had to leave the place I felt comfortable in, and step up to a new position. It is never easy to leave a position in which you have become an expert and start again from scratch. That is what happened when I was
asked by the President of the World Bank Group to start up a new unit within the group. By then, I had grown accustomed to the culture and mentality of the private sector at IFC, I had connections, and my job was fulfilling and comfortable. But then, I had to start as a leader in a completely new environment. I was not sure I would succeed in this new role. I was nervous, both physically and mentally. That was the toughest time for me, and I am glad that things are going well now. One simple thing men can do to promote diversity One problem with competent women is that they are perfectionists. Women do high-quality and solid work. Yet this means that, for instance, when a position becomes open women would tend to think, "Of the ten requirements, I qualify in eight. But since I don't qualify in the other two, I won't apply for the position." For the last seven or eight years I have helped other women overcome barriers. This is because I myself was hesitant to apply for new positions for the past ten years or so. At every opportunity, I thought, "I am not ready yet." I had to overcome the barrier within myself to learn to wake up the next morning and think, "I'm going to go for it." With this in mind, to people who do solid work and want to try something at a higher level, I tell them to go for it. I just encouraged someone this last week. I have two teen-age children so I understand that women with families will hardly ever "be ready," and that opportunities do not come around when they finally are.
What men can do for gender equality One thing anyone can do for gender equality is, if you have a daughter, to teach her confidence. I have been conscious of this point ever since my daughter was very small, and I have tried to instill my children with confidence, telling them that "any dream can be achieved, and men and women are equal." I taught my son to support gender equality, and to tell his sister, his girlfriends, and his future wife and daughter that anything is possible. There is the "HeForShe" campaign, which aims to promote the importance of men (He) behaving appropriately to women (She). If men, who make up half the population of the world, take action to give confidence to women, the other half of the population, they can make a huge impact. I sincerely hope the male readers of Forbes become role models. Gender equality cannot succeed without men. If things stay the same, it will take another 170 years to achieve equality between men and women. No one can wait that long. Men can play an enormous role indeed in achieving gender equality.
Nena Stoiljkovic / Vice President of the International Finance Corporation (IFC). Worked as a consultant at the Economic Institute of Belgrade, then joined IFC as an investment officer in 1995. Has been engaged in solving many of the world's problems, including climate change, gender issues, problems in conflict-affected and vulnerable regions, and more. Earned her MBA at London Business School.