May Abulnaga - First Sub-Governor - Central Bank of Egypt - Egypt
As a high-ranking official at the Central Bank of Egypt, May Abulnaga knows the enriching power that financial inclusion - one of the goals and responsibilities in her job - can mean for women’s lives.
One of the Egyptian bank’s most promising projects has been the modernization and expansion of savings groups, typically used by women, with digitalization, said Abulnaga, First Sub-Governor of the nation’s bank.
Savings groups help women save money, typically in small amounts, provide access to credit, make financing available for nano businesses and offer opportunities such as utilizing mobile wallets for money transfers, bill payments and other tasks. The groups are a means for women to move from an informal system to the formal financial system.
“The previous old model …is basically putting the cash in a box,” she said in an interview with the United Nations Global Compact ahead of Target Gender Equality LIVE on 15 March, part of the initiative aimed at supporting companies to set ambitious targets for women’s representation and leadership and address barriers to achieving gender balance in business.
The savings group project, done in conjunction with Egypt’s National Council for Women, has been transformative, she said.
It began as a pilot program with 100 women and now, with support from such sources as UN Women and the anti-poverty and anti-hunger group CARE, is scaling up to a quarter million women.
Critical to its success has been the backing from women in positions of leadership in Egypt who helped promote it, she said.
Gender equality and women’s financial inclusion, she added, are key aspects of Egypt Vision 2030, the nation’s sustainable development strategy.
Incorporating the Sustainable Development Goals, the agenda of Egypt Vision 2030 includes the elimination of poverty, transformation to a digital economy, increased employment, renewable energy, sustainable consumption and transparency.
Built into the wide-ranging plans are essential efforts to empower women - from those in leadership to those in the lowest socio-economic rungs struggling to feed their families, she said.
“Sometimes it gets on the nerves of some of our male leaders that they see that we are pushing and pushing and pushing,” Abulnaga said. “But then again, in history, if we don't push, what happens?”
At the Central Bank, she said the glass ceiling for female employees is under scrutiny, as the number of women declines from middle management to more senior positions.
The bank has implemented initiatives and programs to help women climb the career ladder with confidence. These include mentoring, workshops to build leadership skills, expanded child care options and drawing in men’s participation with paternity leave options.
“We look forward to changing the perception that taking a leave like that is normal, it’s healthy, it’s wanted, and needed,” she said.
Abulnaga, who holds a Bachelor’s degree in business administration from the American University in Cairo, started out working as a bank teller. At the Central Bank, she oversees areas of regulation and reform along with financial inclusion.
She credits her husband for giving her support in her career.
“It’s not easy for Egyptian men with the culture to accept that the woman could be in a powerful position and could be coming in late, after the husband,” she said. “I owe him a lot of gratitude.”
She said she learned just how difficult it can be for a working woman in Egypt, when she was diagnosed with cancer.
“I really perceived myself as Superwoman, but I wasn't, and I fell apart,” she said, adding that she now has been cancer-free for two years.
Being a cancer survivor has helped provide clarity for what she wants to accomplish.
“I want to do good for the institution, for Egypt. I want to do good for the women of Egypt,” she said. “That’s the target I set for myself, and this is the measure of my success.”
