Leaders from multilateral development banks, financial institutions and the private sector called on peers to dispel myths about women being too “high risk” for financing - and to offer more financial services for women in business to close the gender finance gap.

Spotlighting the role of targeted investment and innovation towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with special focus on ‘Harnessing the Potential of the Fourth Industrial Revolution in the Digital Economy,’ the World Entrepreneurs Investment Forum kicked off on Tuesday in the Bahraini capital, Manama.

The global goal of a sustainable future for all cannot be achieved until women, girls and young people gain control over their own bodies and lives, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed told world leaders meeting in Nairobi on Tuesday.

African women are on the cusp of securing gender equality. “We are convinced that the moment for African women has now come,” said Antoinette Sassou Nguesso, the First Lady of the Republic of Congo.

The historically male-dominated shipping industry should clear the decks for a new generation of women, whose empowerment would help fuel economic growth, and speed up the drive towards “safe, secure, clean and sustainable shipping”.

Stella Nyanzi, the Ugandan women’s rights activist and staunch government critic who once called head of state Yoweri Museveni “a pair of buttocks”, has received an 18-month jail sentence after she was found guilty of cyber harassment against the president.

Twenty Egyptian women have graduated from prominent universities in the U.S., all funded by the U.S. government as part of America’s support for economic development in Egypt. The women all received scholarships from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to

The Senegalese General Delegation for the Acceleration of Entrepreneurship for Women and Young People (DER), under the auspices of the Presidency of the Republic of Senegal, signed a partnership agreement with GreenTec Capital Partners (GreenTec-Capital.com), the premier German investor into African Start-ups.

The UN deputy chief issued an impassioned plea on Sunday for Afghans to reconcile with the past and put “women at the centre” of all efforts to forge a durable peace, and a truly inclusive political process where women’s voices are truly heard.

When one thinks of role model countries, one doesn’t typically look to the African continent. It isn’t only that protracted conflicts in places like Sudan, Central African Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo have claimed millions of lives. Rampant corruption and mismanagement, poverty, hunger,