CSW69 Side Event – The Future of Care: Investing in Women Entrepreneurs to Deliver Care Solutions at Scale

H.E. Hanan Ahli

Director of the Federal Competitiveness & Statistics Center, United Arab Emirates

Her Excellency Hanan Ahli is the Director of the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre (FCSC), a government entity affiliated with the Ministry of Cabinet Affairs in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Centre works on developing and enhancing the UAE’s performance in the sectors of global competitiveness, statistics and data through coordination with partners to implement initiatives and define policies of importance to vital sectors across the UAE. The Centre is considered as one of the most important government sources for national data, and for monitoring the competitive performance of the UAE in global reports, and hold the responsibility for the SDGs in the UAE.

In her capacity as the Director of FCSC, Hanan looks after a range of policies outlined in the UAE’s National Agenda, with a particular focus on supporting gender balance, promoting favorable business regulations, and strengthening the performance in the UAE’s public sector.

Prior to this designation, Hanan held the position of the Executive Director of the Competitiveness Sector at the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Authority (FCSA) (name amended to the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre in 2020), a UAE federal entity created by a Presidential decree in 2015. During her tenure as Executive Director, Hanan focused on supporting the competitiveness of the United Arab Emirates, by enhancing the performance of major economic, commercial and social sectors in the country, through launching initiatives and strategies that aimed at improving the performance of the country’s institutions on global competitiveness indexes and reports.

Hanan Ahli has extensive experience in business administration, policy-making and financing programs. Prior to joining the government sector, Hanan worked for Mawarid Finance, PJSC, where she led finance operations with a special focus on Islamic finance.

Hanan holds an MBA from the American University of Sharjah, and a Bachelor’s degree in Business Sciences from Zayed University. She is a graduate of the UAE Government Leadership Program, in the Future Leadership category and Policies Diploma, and has credentials from the London Business School, Institute of Management Development (IMD), and Harvard Kennedy School

Chiou See Anderson

Head of the W20 Australian Delegation

Chiou See Anderson is born in Singapore and moved to Brisbane in 1988. She has a Bachelor of Business in Accounting, a Master of Business Administration and part completed a PhD scholarship on housing options for Australia’s ageing population. She is a Fellow CPA and Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

In 2003, Chiou See became the first woman to begin the development of a seniors housing community in Australia. In 2010, she was recognised by the Urban Development Institute of Australia in 2010 as a Rising Star and in 2017 by the Property Council of Australia for innovation to the retirement industry. Chiou See is Chair of Conpago Software Solutions and Director of Heather Care Group.

She is the immediate Past President of the National Council of Women of Australia and the National Council of Women of Queensland, current board member and of the International Council of Women and Australia’s Head of Delegation for W20, the official G20 Women engagement group focused on gender equity. This year, Chiou See will Chair the W20 Care Economy Working Group for the second year.

Chiou See was an inaugural member of Australia Prime Minister and Cabinet’s Women Economic Equality Taskforce that introduced a raft of legislation to remove barriers that prevent women from economic participation. In 2024, she was awarded the Prestigious Queensland University of Technology’s Outstanding Alumnus award.

Greta Bull

Director of Women’s Economic Empowerment at the Gates Foundation

Greta Bull is the Director of Women’s Economic Empowerment at Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. She leads the Foundation’s work on Women’s Economic Empowerment, where she oversees a portfolio of investments covering gender data and evidence, women’s economic collectives (WECs) and livelihoods development for poor women.

Prior to joining the foundation, Greta worked for 15 years at the World Bank Group, where she served for six years as the CEO of CGAP, a think tank focused on financial services for the poor housed in the World Bank.  Prior to that, she was a manager for Financial Institutions Advisory Services at the International Finance Corporation in Latin America and sub-Saharan Africa.  In those roles, she worked primarily on issues related to access to finance for the poor.

Ms. Bull has over 20 years of experience in development finance, focused on small and medium enterprise finance, microfinance, digital financial services, payments and livelihoods. She has worked with financial services providers, development partners and policy makers in Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia. Her clients and partners have included banks, microfinance institutions, mobile network operators, fintechs and bigtechs.

Ms. Bull has a master’s degree in Public Policy from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and an undergraduate degree in International Studies from the University of Washington.

Inken Denker

Head of Division, Feminist Development Policy at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)

Inken Denker is Head of Division for Feminist Development Policy at the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). She brings many years of experience in communications and development policy. Before moving to her current position in May 2022, she was Head of Division for Speech-Writing and Texts at BMZ. She has also worked for the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (giz), Transparency International, as well as Konrad Adenauer Foundation in China. Her academic background is in China Studies, along with Sociology and Law.

Tej Preet Kaur

Managing Director, Strong Start Limited

Tej is a leader in the care economy and early childhood development, dedicated to family-centric community transformation. As Managing Director of Strong Start, she has empowered over 3,000 care workers by improving job security, wages, and the quality of early childhood care in homes and communities.

With a background in community development and health administration, Tej has designed and led high-impact programs that foster youth leadership, promote financial resilience for care workers, and expand equity in underserved communities. Her structured training programs integrate health, safety, and well-being into care education, setting high standards for child and family care.

Committed to gender equity and social impact, Tej continues to drive initiatives in Kenya that expand women’s access to meaningful work, professional training, and quality childcare. Through Strong Start, she is shaping the future of the care economy and early childhood education.

Cecila Foxworthy

CEO, Agora Partnerships

Cecilia is the CEO of Agora Partnerships and co-founder of Red de Impacto. During her first three years of leadership, Cecilia quadrupled the growth of Agora, putting the organization on track to support over 20,000 small and growing businesses in Latin America by 2030. Over the last 15 years, she has led impact organizations for strategic growth and innovation, with a targeted focus on the Americas. Her experience spans strategic design, program creation, business development, and organizational change for entrepreneurship, youth development, and women’s economic empowerment initiatives. Previously, she held roles directing or managing operations and marketing for Global Citizen and Global Goods Partners. Additionally, Cecilia has founded and built two organizations, Torus Teens and Small Fry, to address education and economic opportunity gaps in disadvantaged communities in the US. Cecilia holds an MBA from Baruch College, an MS in Global Education from Drexel, and a BS in Apparel Design from Virginia Tech.

Dinana Rodriguez Franco

Special Advisor on Gender & Diversity to the President, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)

Diana Rodriguez Franco is the Special Advisor on Gender and Diversity to the President of the Inter-American Development Bank. Diana has nearly 20 years of experience in gender equality and human rights. She combines a robust academic foundation in sociology, economics, and law with practical experience to deliver transformative social change. She offers a proven track record in creating and driving women’s rights and social justice initiatives in both governmental and non-governmental contexts in Latin America.

As the former Secretary for Women’s Affairs in the city of Bogota from 2020 to 2023, Diana conceived and implemented innovative and internationally awarded public policies to address the unpaid care burden (notably the “Care Blocks”), close gaps in employment opportunities, and respond to gender-based violence, in addition to mainstreaming a gender perspective throughout government and partnering with private sector stakeholders. Prior to that role, Diana was Deputy Director of Dejusticia (Center for Law, Justice, and Society), a non-profit research center that promotes human rights and the social rule of law in Colombia and Latin America, where she oversaw the divisions of economic justice, environmental justice, and international human rights.

A dual citizen of US and Colombia, Diana holds a PhD and Master’s degree in Sociology from Northwestern University and an Economics and Law (Juris Doctor) degree from Universidad de Los Andres in Bogota. She has been a lecturer at different universities and has published multiple scholarly books and articles. Diana is a member of the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on the Future of the Care Economy and a Member of Room 5 on Gender Equality, part of the 17 Rooms Initiative of the Brookings Institution and The Rockefeller Foundation.

Seema Malhotra MP

Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Equalities), United Kingdom

Seema Malhotra MP was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Equalities) in the Department for Education on 8 October, in addition to her current role as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Home Office.

She was elected as the MP for Feltham and Heston in the general election of July 2024.

Seema first entered Parliament in December 2011 following her victory in the Feltham and Heston by-election. She held a number of shadow roles whilst in opposition including shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury from 2015 to 2016 and shadow Home Office Minister in 2015. She has also served as a member of the Justice Select Committee and the Committee on the Future Relationship with the European Union select committee.

Seema was educated at schools in Hounslow and studied Politics and Philosophy at the University of Warwick. She took a postgraduate degree in Business and Information Studies at Aston University.

Katsura Miyazaki

Executive Senior Vice President, Japan International Cooperation Agency

October 2022: Senior Vice President, JICA

October 2020: Director General, Governance and Peacebuilding Department, JICA

November 2018: Chief Representative, Thailand Office, JICA

July 2016: Senior Deputy Director General and Senior Director of the Office for Gender Equality and Poverty Reduction, Infrastructure and Peacebuilding Department, JICA

April 2014: Deputy Director General, Credit Risk Analysis and Environmental Review Department, JICA

January 1992: Joined Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)

Gulnora Mukhamadieva

Global Lead, Gender Equality, Aga Khan Foundation

Gulnora leads gender equality integration in programmes and provides strategic direction for AKF’s Civil Society portfolio in South and Central Asia.  In her role as Global Lead for Gender Equality at the Aga Khan Foundation, Gulnora is providing programmatic leadership to the Foundation’s vision and objectives towards gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. She does this across some of the most challenging contexts, in geographies where gender equality is most pronounced – no less than five of the countries where she works are in the bottom quarter of the Global Gender Gap Index. A woman from the Global South herself, Gulnora is a passionate advocate for the rights of women and girls, while also being a pragmatist, who is aware that solutions need to be respectful of local context.

Since March 2023, Gulnora is a co-Chair of the Gender Working Group, at the OECD’s Network of Foundations working for the Development. netFWD.  Before joining AKF in 2019, Gulnora has worked with development agencies such as the UK Department for International Development, Swiss Development Cooperation and GIZ, as well as UN Women, UN Relief and Works Agency, and the Food and Agriculture Organisation in Jordan. Her experience and expertise focus on governance and social development reforms: public administration reforms, public finance management, anti-corruption, migration management, gender equality and women’s empowerment, livelihoods, GBV/SGBV. She is passionate about social justice, gender equality and girls’ empowerment.

Gulnora holds a Master’s degree in Development Studies from the University of Leeds, UK. She has been accredited with the UK Aid’s (former DFID) Professional Cadre for Governance and Social Development Advisors. In January 2023, she has received accreditation with Kazakhstan Association of Independent Directors (QID), and she served as a Chairwoman of the Central Eurasian Leadership Alliance, SIBF during January 2022- December 2024. She speaks English, Russian and Tajik.

Dhivya O’Conner

CEO, Cherie Blair Foundation

Dhivya O’Connor joined the Cherie Blair Foundation for Women as CEO in November 2023. She is an accomplished leader, with over 23 years’ experience across the non-profit and for-profit sectors. Growing up in India, Dhivya witnessed stark inequalities, particularly for women and girls, which has deeply influenced her commitment to championing equality and addressing social injustice.

Dhivya recently served as Interim CEO at The Girls’ Network. She previously led as CEO, United World Schools, Chartered Institute of Fundraising and Children with Cancer UK. A talented fundraiser, Dhivya also brings strategy and business development expertise from her early career in the private sector, working at GE Capital, Lloyds Bank and OctopusTravel (now part of Expedia).

Dhivya is a Trustee of Book Aid International, a Steering Committee Member of Groundbreakers, and Governor of a state primary school. Dhivya is also the host and creative force behind the chart-topping The Charity CEO Podcast (www.thecharityceo.com).

Soya Otani

Advisor to the Executive Director, The World Bank

Soya Otani has served as an Advisor to the Executive Director of Japan at the World Bank Group since July 2022. Building on his previous career as a Japanese diplomat, he acts as the key focal point between the Government of Japan and the World Bank, covering a broad spectrum of development challenges, including human development, fragility, conflict and violence (FCV), food and nutrition security, and most importantly, gender equality.

Prior to joining the Bank, Soya spent over a decade as a diplomat at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan. His experience spans multilateral diplomacy — from shaping UN policies to enhancing economic partnerships and strengthening Japan-Africa relations. His overseas postings in France and Djibouti further broadened his expertise, where he worked on political, economic, and cultural cooperation.

Soya holds a Master of Science in Earth and Planetary Science from the University of Tokyo, as well as a Certificat d’Études Politiques from Sciences Po Grenoble. His passion ultimately stems from the simple joy of seeing people smile — because, as Mother Teresa once said, peace begins with a smile.

Milagros Rivas Saiz

Division Chief, Advisory Services, IDB Invest

Milagros Rivas Saiz is Division Chief, Advisory Services, at IDB Invest, which she joined in 2021. She is responsible for leading the Climate Change, Gender and Inclusion, SME Development, Digitalization, and Public-Private Partnerships areas. Before joining the IDB Group, Milagros worked for the International Finance Corporation as Global Head of Strategy Director and Global Head of Advisory Services, a position in which she helped develop highly sustainable projects and open markets to private investment. Previously, she was an Executive Committee member of Acciona Energía. Milagros has extensive experience in consulting, from her work at McKinsey & Co. Milagros earned a master’s degree in civil engineering from Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Spain).

Farid Tadros

Senior Operations Officer, We-Fi Secretariat

Farid Tadros joined the World Bank in 2006 and has extensive experience in private sector development working in both regional and global teams.  His work has focused on women’s entrepreneurship, climate entrepreneurship, investment climate, and market creation, with the aim of unlocking the potential of the private sector to catalyze growth and create jobs. Since 2019, Farid has been a Senior Operations Officer with the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) Secretariat, housed in the World Bank, where he is leading on We-Fi’s knowledge and research agenda, as well as developing We-Fi’s priority themes and call for funding process. Farid has over fifteen years’ experience working with the private sector, intermediaries, and governments to design and implement programs, mobilize stakeholders, and improve development outcomes.  Farid has a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Oxford.

Wendy Teleki

Head, We-Fi Secretariat

Wendy Teleki is the Head of the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) Secretariat, which is housed in the World Bank and supports women entrepreneurs in over 60 developing countries around the world. Prior to joining We-Fi in 2019, Ms. Teleki worked at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. At the IFC, Ms. Teleki spearheaded efforts to help private and public institutions in emerging markets expand financing and support for small businesses and women entrepreneurs. Ms. Teleki led programs to privatize and build the small business sector in Ukraine in the early 1990s, developed solutions for SMEs in Indonesia during the Asian Financial Crisis, launched innovative SME finance and advisory offerings, and pioneered blended finance efforts.

In 2022, Ms. Teleki was named one of Forbes’s “50 Over 50” women in finance for her leadership in advocating for women’s economic empowerment and entrepreneurship. She is the co-author of Rebalance: How Women Lead, Parent, Partner and Thrive and has written on SME finance, entrepreneurship, and gender equality. Ms. Teleki holds an MA in International Economics from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of Business.

Takahiro (“Taka”) Tsuda

Director, Multilateral Development Banks Division, Ministry of Finance, Japan

Mr. Tsuda has held various leadership positions at the Japanese Ministry of Finance and was the World Bank Group Alternate Executive Director for Japan between 2020 and 2023. Prior to coming to the Bank, he headed the Office of Planning and Coordination for International Affairs, being responsible for developing the strategic direction of the International Bureau and handling personnel management. Furthermore, during the Japanese G20 Presidency in 2019, as then-Director for Development Policy Coordination, he contributed to conceptualizing various development-related G20 agenda items, including quality infrastructure investment, debt sustainability and transparency, global health, and disaster risk finance. Among others, he was a drafter-in-chief of the G20 Shared Understanding on the Importance of UHC financing in Developing Countries, one of the key outcomes of the Osaka Summit. Also, back in 2016, he led a unit that was responsible for the global economic outlook, International Monetary Fund (IMF), and G7/G20 issues, playing a central role in managing the Japan’s G7 Presidency back then.

His expertise also extends to fiscal policy management. As the First Deputy Budget Examiner for Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishery (July 2017 – July 2018), he played a leading role in the modernization of the agricultural sector through comprehensive budget reallocation. Also, as Deputy Head of Fiscal Research Division (June 2016 – July 2017), he was in charge of producing a medium-term fiscal strategy, preparing macro-fiscal projections, and identifying social security reform measures.

Moreover, he has a wide range of experience in capital market research at the IMF. As a financial sector expert in the Monetary and Capital Markets Department (2010-13), he contributed to a series of the IMF’s Global Financial Stability Reports, undertook analytical works on sovereign debt markets, and published literature on the sovereign debt investor base (with Mr. Serkan Arslanalp). He also actively participated in IMF-WB TA missions on medium-term debt management strategy during this period.

He earned a Bachelor of Laws from Tokyo University and LL.M. from the University of Cambridge. Then he shifted his academic focus to economics and finance, and obtained an MA in Applied Economics from Johns Hopkins University and an MSc in Finance from London Business School.