On 19 May 2023, the 2nd annual forum «Discussing Business in Woman’s Way» was held in Krasnodar. The event was hosted by the Eurasian Women’s Forum Council and supported by the Public Chamber of the Krasnodar Region. Center-invest Bank was a partner of the forum and actively participated in it.

The forum brought together more than 300 people: representatives of government and development institutions, the banking sector and regional committees for the development of women’s entrepreneurship.

Mrs. Lydiya Simonova, Chairman of the Management Board of Center-invest Bank, spoke at the forum’s plenary session «Implementation of the National Strategy  2023–2030 for Actions in Favour of Women: Vectors of Development». Center-invest Bank is a practical example of equal opportunities for career development, healthy competition and the absence of «glass ceiling» gender stereotypes. The bank has four women on its seven-member Board of Directors and three women on the Management Board. Women make up more than 70% of the bank’s management and staff.

At the same time, the fertility rate among the bank’s female employees is consistently several times higher than in Russia as a whole. «The bank’s gender policy, which has been developed over the years, allows female employees to go on their maternity leave freely and always get the support they need, enabling them to combine productive work with motherhood», specifies Lydiya Simonova.

One of the key blocks of the forum was a discussion on support measures for small and medium-sized enterprises and the self-employed community, where Mrs. Diana Lipinskaya, Director of the Krasnodar branch of Center-invest Bank, spoke about the bank’s business support activities. The bank is ranked 7th in the country for its services to small and medium-sized enterprises, helping entrepreneurs to develop and adapt to the new environment. The bank’s loan products cover full range of business needs, from working capital loans to investment loans. For more than 10 years, the bank has been running a comprehensive programme to support women entrepreneurs, the Business Loan for Women, which offers a preferential interest rate on loans, mentoring and consultancy. To date, Center-invest Bank has granted more than 1,500 loans worth 4 billion roubles to businesswomen.