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Wednesday, March 9, 2011

MACTV News: IFC Village Phone Program Empowers Women in Africa, Posted by Menelik Zeleke




IFC Village Phone Program Empowers Women in Africa

Washington, D.C., March 8, 2011
The International Fianance Corporation IFC, a member of the World Bank Group,
announced today that its Village Phone program has helped provide credit to
nearly 6,000 women and trained close to 10,000 to set up phone service
businesses in Madagascar, Malawi, and Nigeria, increasing the economic
participation of women in some of Africa’s most rural communities.

On the centennial of International Women’s Day, Cherie Blair, Founder of
the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women, participated as special guest
speaker at a ceremony at IFC’s headquarters, where the program received the
Annual IFC CEO Gender Award for outstanding achievement in promoting women
in business. The ceremony was attended by representatives from governments,
women’s organizations, and the media.

“IFC is doing a remarkable job by increasing access to finance for women
entrepreneurs, reducing gender-based barriers in the investment climate,
and improving sustainability in the private sector,” said Blair.

IFC's Village Phone Program links large telecom operators with African
entrepreneurs who sell airtime on the companies' networks to people in
their local communities. The relationship brings rural villagers access to
telephone services, local entrepreneurs the means to build an
income-generating business, and participating telecoms companies a way to
expand their reach. IFC launched the program in Nigeria in 2007, and
expanded it to Madagascar and Malawi the following year.

“The IFC CEO Gender Award was created four years ago to underscore the
priority IFC places on creating opportunities for women in its pursuit of
sustainable development. Village Phone’s success reaching women
entrepreneurs illustrates the central role that women play in promoting
sustainable economic growth,” said Lars Thunell, IFC Executive Vice
President and CEO.

Extending benefits of mobile phone ownership to more women can advance a
host of social and economic goals, according to a report by the Cherie
Blair Foundation and the GSMA, which represents the interests of the
worldwide mobile communications industry. Women & Mobile: A Global
Opportunity, found that bringing mobile-phone penetration among women on
par with penetration among men could enable mobile operators globally to
collectively earn $13 billion additional revenue a year.

IFC recognizes that sustainable economic growth is not possible without
full participation of women. Since 2006, IFC has partnered with 14
financial institutions to increase access to finance for women
entrepreneurs. It has helped increase capital for over 2,000 women
entrepreneurs, trained over 2,500 women in business skills, and facilitated
over 6,000 women to open new accounts with financial institutions. IFC has
also helped enact reforms to support women's participation in the private
sector in more than a dozen countries.

About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is the largest global development
institution focused on the private sector in developing countries. We
create opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. We
do so by providing financing to help businesses employ more people and
supply essential services, by mobilizing capital from others, and by
delivering advisory services to ensure sustainable development. In a time
of global economic uncertainty, our new investments climbed to a record $18
billion in fiscal 2010. 

About The Cherie Blair Foundation
The Cherie Blair Foundation for Women helps women entrepreneurs to build
businesses by offering access to technology, networks, finance and business
development support. Programs are in Africa, South Asia and the Middle
East, where there is potential for women in business to become
self-sustaining in the longer term.  By supporting women entrepreneurs, the
foundation not only helps the women themselves to improve their quality of
life, but also their families, communities and economies who benefit from
their success.

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