Sehnawi, the only MENA figure at UN Women Empowerment Forum

BLC Bank’s Chairman General Manager, Mouris Sehnawi took part alongside UN Director General, Ban Ki Moon, and US Senator, Hilary Clinton, in the Women’s Empowerment Principles Annual Forum which was held at the Economic and Social Chamber at the UN Headquarters in New York. Sehnawi was invited, along some 850 CEOs, in his capacity as the first chief executive from MENA region known for his unwavering commitment for women empowerment. This was supported by the success of BLC ‘We Initiative’ campaign aimed at enhancing small and medium businesses and empowering women. In his intervention during the forum, Sehnawi noted that BLC was committed since 2012 to support women capacities in Lebanon and in the Arab region by creating tangible solutions to their daily challenges. He said that the Bank has taken concrete steps to increase by 69% the loans targeting women entrepreneurs this year, adding that the total revenues of a private business run by a woman winner of the ‘Brilliant Lebanese Awards’ rose from USD 35 thousand to one million only two years after. Recommendations of the WEP forum stressed the importance of the new UN sustainable development goals that will be decided this year and that will guide the development agenda for the next 15 years. (Al Diyar, 16 April 2015)