President’s Message – January 2022

WIBF becomes a social enterprise

The New Year brings with it a whole new opportunity to re-focus, refresh and renew. At WIBF we exist both to connect and to challenge. We are ready.

Breaking down socio-economic and gender barriers is not simply a just cause; it is good business. This will be the year we prove it.

In 2022, the year of the tiger, we will turn up the dial on our ambitions as WIBF becomes a social enterprise. This will give us a more panoramic view of the future – and a more dynamic platform for young women, for diversity and for an inclusive mindset that is more than just words.

Social enterprises – like the Eden Project – exist to change the world for the better. We mean to be a part of that success story. There are now more than 100,000 social enterprises in the UK, contributing more than £60bn annually to the economy – and most of them are led and run by women. With this new drive and remit, we’ll be maximising our social impact and delivering a programme that drives real change in the lives of women and girls in communities across the UK. More on this to follow, in Q1.

We’ll be delivering our new renewed vision with a commercial mindset at all times. Our evolution will help us to invest in our member proposition as we in the financial services push forward our formidable energies in the UK’s economic future, post-pandemic. Expect more news through the year, as we develop these themes at pace.

Join with us. Use your membership to expand your network, your skills; the reach of your organisation and to share the sheer thrill of what you do. Don’t be shy of getting directly involved: this is an organisation of like-minded members, led by volunteers with a shared vision.

This change will help re-formulate our proposition to the industry, and to you. It will lead the charge towards a more sustainable future by aligning WIBF’s social aims with the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals: to empower the social, economic and political potential of all and ensure women’s full and effective participation at every level of society.

Let’s rise to the challenge. Let’s be the change.