by the Lionesses of Africa Operations Department

We have to immediately state (for those of a fearful nature) that the Lioness cub in the above incredible picture by Sarah Skinner that won the Comedy Wildlife Photograph of the Year 2019, did survive unhurt (somehow!). But it shows clearly that for all of us there are differing levels of understanding and appreciation of risk, in this case both for the cub and for the unsuspecting male who would assume that no one is that daft. As Einstein would agree, Risk is Relative! (Feeling brave? Zoom in and see those claws!)

by the Lionesses of Africa Operations Department

We have discussed the issues with male dominated finance previously (here) and how imbalances built into applications affect women (as Ai is sadly beginning to show us). Although it is great news that more women are being invited onto bank’s boards, until the Credit and Risk committees and their ‘tick boxes’ are redesigned to remove this strange but deep held belief that women’s businesses are more risky, we shall continue to hear the complaints from many who have raised funding ‘to invest in women’s businesses’ that they have searched high and low, yet been unable to find enough women in which to invest. As the AfDB’s Dr Jennifer Blanke said at the The Global Gender Summit 2019, Kigali: “We know that women are a good bet. We know they pay back. We know they run excellent businesses – and yet they are not getting financed” (here).