Powering up women in trade, treasury & payments

(Trade Finance Global, London, 8 March 2023) President and Chair of the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) Reta Jo Lewis gave a keynote address to the Trade Finance Global’s Women in Trade, Treasury & Payments roundtable, urging multilateral organisations to take strides towards improving on the economic welfare of societies, saying leaders must do their part to recognise that advancing gender equity must be a top priority as they work to achieve the sustainable development goals set by the United Nations. She noted that "Multilateral organisations also have the ability to establish norms and, most importantly, use their financing and programming to create incentives for nations to adhere or inch closer to these norms", and that EXIM recognises its responsibility to promote gender equity in trade finance. In the U.S., there are approximately 13 million women-owned businesses, and they are growing at more than double the rate of all other businesses. More than nine million Americans are employed by women-owned businesses, which are generating an estimated $1.9 trillion in revenue adding that although female entrepreneurship is growing exponentially in the U.S. and globally, one of the largest obstacles for women-owned firms is a lack of access to capital and/or funding.