Ivanka Trump touts fund for women

IVANKA Trump, President Donald Trump’s daughter and a White House adviser, on Saturday touted the creation of a new World Bank initiative to foster entrepreneurship among women.

The initiative launched last week, the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative or We-Fi, aims to boost access to capital for businesswomen in the developing world.

“Fully unleashing the power of women in our economy will create tremendous value but also bring much-needed peace, stability and prosperity to many regions,” Trump said during an event at the annual meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.

Women-owned businesses in the developing world suffered an annual credit deficit of $300-billion (R3.9-trillion), either by being unable to borrow or receiving only highcost, short-term credit, she noted.

World Bank president Jim Yong Kim on Saturday described Ivanka Trump as the driving force behind the new initiative, which had received $350-million (R4.6-billion) in donor commitments.

The US itself pledged $50million (R663-million) to the fund in July but has proposed reducing its commitments to a separate fund that helps the world’s poorest countries by 15%, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Reem Bint Ebrahim alHashimy, the United Arab Emirates minister for international cooperation, said at the same event: “We’ve seen primarily that if you provide opportunities for women farmers, for example, you see that go back into the community, into the schools, into their very own ecosystem.” — AFP