ICSB Recognizes First Women's Bank, the first only women-founded, women-owned and women-led commercial bank in the nation with a strategic focus on serving women economy
First Women's Bank is a first-of-its-kind, purpose driven bank with a mission to grow the economy and advance the role of women within it. The Bank is the only women-founded, women-owned and women-led commercial bank in the country with a strategic focus on serving the women's economy.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 27, 2021 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- First Women's Bank is the only women-founded, women-owned, and women-led commercial bank in the country on a mission to grow the economy and advance the role of women within it. The Bank will, initially, serve the national lending and deposit market from a single flagship location in Chicago.
The official ribbon-cutting for the First Women's Bank took place in Chicago, Illinois. Joining the First Women's Bank founders as a strategic investor was tennis legend, Billie Jean King. In attendance were Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, actress Sophia Bush, and entrepreneur Nia Batts, who both serve as strategic advisors.
ICSB Chair of the Board, Dr. Winslow Sargeant joined the event for the grand opening. "I am excited to be an investor and founding board member of First Women's Bank," Dr. Winslow Sargeant stated. "Women small business owners support their families, their employees, and their communities. Empowering women entrepreneurs is a key building block in enabling a sustainable economy."
Women have traditionally been excluded from capital markets and been forced to do much more with much less. Creating incentives for banks and other financial institutions to offer loans and additional capital to women entrepreneurs and investors will immediately increase women's impact in the entrepreneurship ecosystem.
There must also be networks between businesses so that this impact can be distributed and multiplied in a just and sustainable way. We believe strongly in the idea that women should make decisions for women. We believe creating an infrastructure of communication and support between women-led-small businesses will provide ample opportunities for their impact to grow.
Women make up the bulk of small business employees and have succeeded at creating a robust, innovative, and crucial small businesses ecosystem despite historical and current challenges to their participation in the business world. First Women Bank is one step forward and we look forward to seeing more in the near future as stated by Dr. Ayman El Tarabishy, President and CEO of ICSB, and Deputy Chair of the Department of Management, GW School of Business.
The ICSB is a non-profit organization dedicated to continuing management education for entrepreneurs and small businesses. ICSB is the originator of the United Nations International Name Day for Micro-, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (MSMEs Day), celebrated on June 27 of every year.
Media Contact
Ayman El Tarabishy, INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR SMALL BUSINESS, +1 202-629-7192, [email protected]
SOURCE INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL FOR SMALL BUSINESS
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