Encouraging women’s entrepreneurship
One in three companies in the world is owned by a woman. To encourage women and increase this proportion, BNP Paribas supports female CEOs in all its regions with a guiding objective: to further open up entrepreneurship to women.
#ConnectHers: three levers to shake things up!
Commercial & Personal Banking in France contributes with #ConnectHers to the emergence, acceleration and visibility of the projects of women entrepreneurs. By taking into account motivating factors and obstacles they sometimes face, #ConnectHers relies on three levers. The first is to provide adapted support with access to 250 contacts, partnerships and related networks. The second aims to make role models more visible: the French Women Entrepreneurs 40, ranks 40 growing companies led by women, a first of its kind that was launched in 2022 with a coalition of partners. Finally, the third lever is financial: each year the Group plans to produce €2bn in investment loans to finance the projects of VSEs and SMEs led by women, and has committed to increase, by 2025, its equity investments in companies owned or managed by women to 25%.
Italy, Turkey, Ukraine: multiple initiatives
For their part, BNL and its subsidiary Artigiancassa set up an advisory board and launched subsidised financing solutions to support female entrepreneurship. For example, the two institutions facilitate access for women to the Fund for Women Entrepreneurs, created by the Ministry of Economic Development.
Progress is also underway in Turkey and Ukraine. The TEB Women Academy offers Turkish women entrepreneurs digital courses with large companies, pro bono consulting and mentoring services, and introduces them to networks. In Ukraine, UKRSIBBANK is organising free seminars with its “Women in Business” programme for the fourth consecutive year, combined with advice on how to adapt to the relocation of teams due to the war.
Acting for digital inclusion
The Cetelem Foundation celebrated 30 yeas of activity in 2022. It is committed to inclusion through digital access, and during this period of high inflation, it is supporting initiatives that make it possible to consume sustainably and at a lower cost thanks to digital technology.
For its part, DigitAll is the first Belgian ecosystem against digital exclusion, created in 2020 by BNP Paribas Fortis. It brings together more than 70 companies, public authorities and social organisations and launched an awareness-raising campaign in June 2022. With 46% of Belgians struggling to adapt to an increasingly digital(1) world, this campaign informs the population and guides them through a digital society.
(1) Source: Digital Inclusion Survey, King Baudouin Foundation, 2022.
The BNP Paribas Foundation partners with Villa Médicis
Alongside solidarity and the environment, support for cultural creation and transmission is the third area of action of the BNP Paribas Foundation. Among the partners involved, the BNP Paribas Foundation joined forces with the Villa Médicis, through the “Résidence Pro” programme, which involved 300 students from 15 vocational high schools in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region in France. These young people were able to work with professional architects and exhibit their work at this prestigious establishment.