On Monday the 8th of July, we held our Summer edition of the Thought Leadership Series at The Langham Hotel with guest speaker Lesley-Anne Alexander CBE from the MicroLoan Foundation.
Lesley-Anne is a member of MicroLoan Foundation’s Women’s Development Board. She was the CEO of the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) from 2004 until 2016. She had a long career in the public sector and before joining RNIB was Director of Operations for the Peabody Trust and prior to that Director of Housing for the London Borough of Enfield. She was awarded a CBE in The Queen’s 2012 Birthday Honours list and was recognised by her peers as Britain’s Most Admired Charity Chief Executive 2015. Lesley-Anne holds a number of non-executive positions including being a NED of Big Society Capital, the Royal Brompton Hospital and Metropolitan Housing Trust.
Lesley-Anne shared the stories around the work that the MicroLoan Foundation are doing to tackle the challenges around financial inclusion for women in Sub-Saharan Africa. The women in the room were all engrossed in the way Lesley-Anne highlighted how women are left behind and the stories of real women living in Malawi, Zambia and Zimbabwe which painted a picture of the reality of everyday life for some of the world’s poorest women.
MicroLoan Foundation is a charity which provides small loans, mentoring and ongoing business training to help rural women start small business. They provide training for the women to manage their finances and create sustainable enterprises to generate an income. This empowers women to participate in economic life and overcome obstacle associate with poverty.
A big thank you to the team at The Langham for hosting us so graciously and providing a delicious breakfast spread as well as to all of the lovely ladies who attended.
It was a truly inspiring morning and we hope to hear stories of further engagement with the foundation.
In the meantime, we are wishing everyone a lovely Summer!
