to Finance Workshop in Gauteng
26 March 2007
The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will hold a National Workshop on
Women's Access to Finance, at the Sandton Convention Centre in Gauteng on
Thursday, 29 March 2007.
The Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms Elizabeth Thabethe, will
deliver a keynote address. The theme of her speech will be 'Expanding women's
access to finance.' The National Manager of the Small Business and Women's
Markets at the Canada-based RBC Royal Bank, Ms Kristina Depencier, will be a
guest speaker. She will speak on Womenomics as smart economics.
The purpose of the workshop is to facilitate an in-depth dialogue and
exchange of ideas among stakeholders on the barriers, constraints and
challenges that women entrepreneurs have to contend with when it comes to
access to finance. The DTI has identified access to finance as one of the
problems that inhibit the growth and participation of women in business and in
the broader economy of South Africa.
A study conducted by the International Finance Corporation and FinMark
Trust, on behalf of the Gender and Women Empowerment Unit (GWE) of the DTI, has
identified financial literacy, attitudes of banks, lack of appropriate products
and lack of awareness of development finance as some of the obstacles that
hinder women's access to finance. The GWE is in the process of setting up an
exclusive women's fund as one of the solutions to these challenges. This
intervention forms part of the DTI's strategy on gender and women's economic
empowerment.
Other issues that will be discussed at the workshop include:
* conditions set by different private and public institutions in accessing
funds, particularly by women
* understanding and experiences of women in relation to these conditions
* recommendations on how the high market failure rate can be addressed as part
of growing women entrepreneurship in South Africa.
For further information, contact:
Bongani Lukhele
Media Relations
Tel: (012) 394 1643
Cell: 083 291 8689
E-mail: blukhele@thedti.gov.za
Issued by: Department of Trade and Industry
23 March 2007
