Goldman Sachs Group Inc has decided to invest $500 million into companies led, founded or owned by women, as it steps up its efforts to close the gender investing gap.
The program is said to be, Goldman Sachs’ second geared toward female entrepreneurs. This endeavour will also help clients invest directly in private, late-stage companies or provide seed capital for women starting their own funds.
“The bottom line is this makes sense for our business – because investing and helping companies grow is our business,” Stephanie Cohen, Goldman Sachs’ chief strategy officer, said in a statement. “We also hope it makes a difference for women who have big ideas but find themselves cut out of the funding ecosystem.”
Cohen while citing statistics showed that only 2 per cent of U.S. venture capital in 2017 went to companies run entirely and primarily by women entrepreneurs and just 12 per cent went to teams with at least one woman. Less than 2 per cent of U.S. private equity firms are women-owned, she said.
The program which is called “Launch With GS”. It follows Goldman Sachs’ “10,000 Women” which came into being in 2008 with the aim of providing female entrepreneurs in developing economies with business education and access to capital. An online education component was added in May.
Goldman Sachs aims to have women make up half of its global workforce, starting with new analysts by 2021.
Only five of the 31 executives listed on the bank’s management committee are women, one of whom is retiring. The bank also reported a wide gender pay gap in Britain for its international business earlier this year.
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