Investing in Women for a New Economic Future

The world’s fastest growing emerging market is not a country or a region; it is the world’s women. In April 2019, Ivanka Trump (Advisor to the President) and David Bohigian (Acting President and CEO of OPIC) announced OPIC's 2X Africa Women's Investment Initiative, launched under OPIC's broader 2X Women's Initiative. OPIC aims to unlock the full economic potential of women in Africa by catalyzing $1 billion, directly investing $350 million, to businesses and funds owned or led by women, or providing a good or service that intentionally empowers women on the continent. 

OPIC launched the 2X Women’s Initiative during Women’s History Month in March of 2018. By the end of 2018, OPIC had surpassed that initial target of catalyzing $1 billion for women in developing countries.

Through gender lens investing, OPIC is focused on providing women in the developing world access to finance, jobs, and services that enhance economic opportunity.

As the U.S. Government’s development finance institution, OPIC supports investment in global development to advance economic prosperity and global stability. Women are key drivers to achieving both.
 

Kathryn C. Kaufman has built a career serving both the public and private sectors, with a focus on pursuing how governments can support private industry to spur economic growth and stability. She currently serves as Managing Director, Global Women's Issues. Ms. Kaufman is responsible for leading OPIC's 2X Women's Initiative, a top priority for the Administration.

Before joining OPIC, Ms. Kaufman was a founding Partner at New Magellan Ventures (NMV), a venture capital and project development firm in Washington, DC, where she oversaw the development of the company’s largest portfolio project, Texas Central Railway. Prior to joining NMV, Ms. Kaufman was a defense policymaker in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, serving as a Country Director for China and Taiwan on the Asia Pacific desk in the Secretary’s policy office. She also served in the United States Embassy Beijing, both in the Foreign Commercial Service Office and also in the Ambassador’s office as control officer for the Presidential Delegation to the 2008 Summer Olympic Games.

With an educational background in national security policy, Ms. Kaufman has worked on Capitol Hill and in the White House in the office of Political Affairs. She is an active board member for College Bound and the American Institute Foreign Study board. ​​​​​​​

 

Please join us for this timely discussion on May 13th.

This event is made possible through support from Citi.

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