Maurice Sehnaoui: We recognize women's high potential and we are ready to provide her the right opportunities for her to achieve her ambitions.
Following its promise to deliver what matters, and its conviction of women's high potential, BLC Bank launched the second phase of its direct media campaign (on television) to inform the Lebanese society in general and women in particular about the We Initiative, supporting women's economic empowerment, the first of its kind in the MENA region. In line with this, BLC Bank has developed internal and external programs to become the Bank of choice and the Employer of choice for Lebanese women.
Such actions reinforce the Bank's commitment to support women and enhance their economic role as a strategic partner that represents 51% of the population and a key player in boosting the GDP of a country by up to 22% in some cases (International studies by the World Bank, the United Nations and Goldman Sachs).
This campaign is a continuation of the journey that the Bank started in March 2012. This step reinforces the bank's approach after officially being the first Bank in Lebanon and the region to join the Global Banking Alliance for Women - GBA, to leverage on the best practices and share experiences with other members and to commit to the UN Women/UN Global Compact Women's Empowerment Principles - Equality Means Business a set of seven principles for business offering guidance on how to empower women in the workplace, marketplace and community.
Within the framework of this initiative, BLC Bank went on the ground and listened to women's needs and expectations through several rounds of focus groups covering all social classes and all regions in Lebanon with the help of highly skilled and renowned experts from the International Finance Corporation - IFC which is part of the World Bank Group.
For the launching of the media campaign, BLC Bank held an Avant-premiere in the presence of its stakeholders who come first, being board members, employees, partners and media representatives. Maurice Sehnaoui, Chairman and General Manager of BLC Bank, explained the headlines of this program describing it as "the first and only holistic program dedicated to women in their plurality as mothers, employees, professionals and entrepreneurs and in their daily lives, seeking to find solutions for their challenges and concerns and aiming to unleash their potential".
"Our value proposition to our target audience, being women, is that we recognize and indeed it should be recognized that women have high potential equal to that of men, and we are ready to provide her the right opportunities for her to achieve her ambitions."
Mr. Sehnaoui, as a firm believer that actions speak louder than words, focused on the series of measures taken to guarantee the efficient execution of this initiative:
a) Trained the bank's employees on the importance of women clients to the Bank and to be aware of and avoid conscious and unconscious bias promoting as such gender equality.
b) Launched the "Mother's Fiduciary Account" allowing mothers to open accounts for their minor children. BLC Bank was one of the first banks to adopt the Association of Banks in Lebanon - ABL circular early 2011.
c) Developed a group of innovative programs for women including the non-traditional collateral-free business loan for small and medium enterprises that allows them to finance their professional needs without the hassle of securing collateral.
d) Explaining that the We initiative goes beyond financial services to extend non-financial solutions allowing women to enhance their professional and personal lives through trainings and educational workshops, networking events, advisory services including a unique and innovative platform www.we-initiative.com enabling them to connect, network and share experiences and interact. This site gives them access to advice from experts and mentors in different fields be it legal, financial, mediation and others.
e) Launched the BLC Bank WIN Award for Women Entrepreneurs to recognize their success, with a first prize worth $30,000 in cash.
Finally, Mr. Sehnaoui encouraged everybody to realize the importance of women from a social and economic perspective and urged them to adopt such programs to contribute to the economic empowerment of women
Media Communication at BLC
Joyce Kozaily
Head of the Promotion and Communication Section
Telephone: 01-387000 extension 1802
Email: joyce.kozaily@blcbank.com
© Press Release 2012
