Global Banking Alliance for Women and MetLife Foundation Partner to Develop Mentoring Program for Banks
Program will use peer learning across member banks to develop financial products and services for low-income business women
NEW YORK, January 14, 2014/ 3BL Media/ - MetLife Foundation and the Global Banking Alliance for Women [GBA], a global consortium of financial institutions committed to fostering wealth creation among women, are partnering to develop and launch a mentoring program across member banks of the Alliance with the long-term goal of building financial services and products for low-income women entrepreneurs globally. This grant is part of MetLife Foundation’s $200 million, five-year commitment to fund programs and services that help advance financial inclusion.
MetLife Foundation will provide a grant of $350,000 to help develop the mentoring program and enhance existing peer learning activities facilitated by the Alliance. Currently, a significant gap exsists among financial institutions in the technical support required to design and implement services and products for women entrepreneurs of micro, small and medium sized businesses. Further, according to the International Finance Corporation and McKinsey, there is an estimated $300 billion credit gap for women-owned small and medium enterprises worldwide.
The Foundation’s support of the mentoring program will help capitalize on the deep talent inside banks, bringing mentor and mentee together to learn from each other with the goal of developing innovative programs that can help women-owned small and medium entrepreneurs. The program will be a significant step forward in creating a knowledge community that helps low-income women entrepreneurs.
“MetLife believes strongly in the power of women in the workplace and in the marketplace. We share with GBA a focus on innovation, customer centricity and globalization that is essential to the success of all women, especially low-income women, in financial inclusion and business. We applaud GBA’s efforts and look forward to seeing low-income entrepreneurs reach their business goals through improved access to a greater suite of financial products,” said Dennis White, President & CEO of MetLife Foundation.
GBA has partnered with Creative Métier, an international consulting firm, specializing in designing and delivering mentoring and coaching programs for the financial sector, to deliver the program to member banks. If successful, it will be a new and highly cost effective approach for building capacity and sharing information in the broader area of financial inclusion.
“The women’s market represents the single biggest untapped opportunity in the financial services sector. Through the establishment of a formal mentoring program between banks, the Global Banking Alliance for Women will accelerate the delivery of quality financial products, education and networking opportunities to women entrepreneurs worldwide. We would like to extend our sincere appreciation to MetLife Foundation for its generous support for this initiative. We believe the GBA Mentoring Program is a landmark in cooperation of banks around women’s economic empowerment,” said Inez Murray, CEO Global Banking Alliance for Women.
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About MetLife Foundation
MetLife Foundation was created in 1976 to continue MetLife’s long tradition of corporate contributions and community involvement. Today, the Foundation is dedicated to advancing financial inclusion, committing $200 million over the next five years to help build a secure future for individuals and communities around the world. MetLife Foundation is affiliated with MetLife, Inc. a leading global provider of insurance, annuities and employee benefit programs, serving 90 million customers. Through its subsidiaries and affiliates, MetLife holds leading market positions in the United States, Japan, Latin America, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. To learn more about MetLife Foundation, visit www.metlife.org.
