Peruvian First Lady Nadine Heredia and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands participated in an event for female entrepreneurs organized by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in Lima on Friday.
Speaking at the “Women Entrepreneurs, Inclusion and the Future” conference in the Peruvian capital, Nadine Heredia welcomed the efforts being made across the public and private sectors to support women entrepreneurs so that they can be "autonomous and independent."
"On the road to financial inclusion, we will find thousands of women who will seize these opportunities to change the course of their lives. This requires the participation of the public and private sectors, civil society, and international cooperation," she said.
Addressing over 200 women entrepreneurs and business and development experts in attendance, Heredia highlighted the commitment of and progress made by the Peruvian government in promoting financial inclusion in the country, especially when it comes to people living in poverty and extreme poverty.
"After two and a half years of this administration, the beneficiaries of [social] programs like Juntos and Pensión 65 get their money transfers straight into their savings accounts. That is include to grow," she said. "More than a million people, including students under the Beca 18 scholarship program, hold savings accounts while others already have and use their debit cards."
For her part, Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, who arrived in Lima on Wednesday in her capacity as the United Nations Secretary-General's Special Advocate for Inclusive Finance for Development, said she was grateful for the opportunity to hear about the experiences of Peruvian women entrepreneurs, and also shared her views on how to continue supporting their accomplishments.
Friday's event marked the closing of a successful partnership between IDB's Multilateral Investment Fund, Mibanco, the government of Australia, Goldman Sachs Foundation, and Thunderbird School of Global Management, which invested in women entrepreneurs in Peru through two progams: one which taught basic business skills to 100,000 women; the other a more intensive Certificate program for established small and medium business owners.
(END) EEP/EEP
Published: 3/8/2014