#FixingFinanceForWomen #BackHerBrilliance #WomensFinancialInclusion #EconomicSecuirty #WomensEconomicSecurity
Who attended the forum…..
What an incredible gathering!
We kicked off with a beautiful Acknowledgement of Country by CEO & Founder of Chocolate on Purpose, Fiona Harrison, a proud Wiradyuri Woman.

How exciting to see such a diverse array of representation from across the finance sector ecosystem. Thank you to all our wonderful speakers and panels and especially to our Sisters for sharing their stories of engaging with the finance sector as micro business owners, and their insights as to how we can fix finance for women in micro business.
Organisations regulating or delivering services today increasingly find themselves on the frontline of delivering social services, due to the intimate role they play in the lives of citizens and users. Growing demands for safety and inclusion challenge everyone to transition their thinking from pursuing ‘narrow’ to ‘enlightened’ self-interest. Take a moment to click here and read ‘Embracing enlightened self-interest’.
- CommBank
- Westpac
- NAB
- ANZ
- Suncorp Group
- AMP Bank
- Women in Banking & Finance
- Super Consumers Australia
- Per Capita
- Centre for Women’s Economic Security (CWES)
- WISR
- HNRY
- WHIN
- Purposeful Capital
- Funding4Growth Incubator
- Minderoo
- Flequity Ventures
- Impact Seed
- Amali Capital
- SBE Australia
- Coralus
- LIFT Women
- AMP Foundation
- Paul Ramsay Foundation
- Ecstra Foundation
- Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA)
- Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman (ASBFEO)
- Impaqt Queensland
- Queensland Government
- Office of the Chief Entrepreneur
- Department of Social Services (DSS)
- Smart Precinct North Queensland
- THE Rural Woman
- Arise Foundation
- Grameen Australia
- Australian Retail Credit Association
- International Women’s Federation of Commerce and Industry
- UFS
- Financially Empowered
- Murawin
- Advisory Board Centre
- CFO Worx
- KoziLabs
- Kooyong Group
- The Flow Society
- Zinn & Co
- Dent and Co
- Kirrah+Co
- Zebra Research Pty Ltd
- EY
- McKinsey & Company
- Finucane Consulting
- Bright Pilots
- Poetic Thinking





Ben Crothers Bright Pilots
#ListenToHer
- Statistics (Coming soon)
- Lived Experience Quotes (Coming soon)
- Case Studies (Coming soon)
- Our Impact
Related Research
Click the links below to access key reports and related research that were referenced during the forum:
Global Sisters
– Women’s Economic Security Pathways Program
– ListenToHer – Making invisible things visible (coming end of May)
ASBFEO
– ASBFEO Women Owned Women Led Business Survey, 2021
AFCA
– Systemic issues at AFCA Quarters 1&2 FY23
CWES
– Design to Disrupt – Reimagining banking products to improve financial safety
– Supporting Women’s Financial Safety A Guide to Prevention and Action on Financial Abuse within the Financial Service Sector
– Support my economic safety A guide for organisations thinking about how to address economic abuse
Other Reading
– Finding your inner circle as a female entrepreneur
– For Female Founders, Fundraising Only from Female VCs Comes at a Cost
– Supporting female jobs is critical to breaking economic inequality

LIVE Partnership Opportunities for Collective Success –
Fixing finance for women in micro business ‘together’!
In the words of Bruce Billson, Federal Ombudsman for Small Business and Family Enterprise “We need to find more ways to nurture possibilities, making it more likely success is within reach of every woman. It is not within our gift that every business will become a success – But it should be our mission to make sure no businesses fail from simply not knowing about or having access to something which might have made all the difference.”
What is the next most interesting thing you want to do?
- Gain insights and engage in further converse with peers
- Improve financial products and services by applying a richer gender frame and more granular data
- Discreetly partner through co-opetition or collaboration with selected partners
- Visibly partner to innovate, and share learnings and insights with all sector stakeholders – in pilots such as the Global Sisters – Lift Women initiative

Key Speakers

Mandy Richards
CEO
Global Sisters

Sangeeta Venkatesan
President
Women in Banking & Finance

Irene Tsang
CEO
Lift Women

Bruce Billson
Ombudsman
Australian Small Business
and Family Enterprise

Caroline Stewart
CEO
ECSTRA Foundation

Rebecca Glenn
Centre for Women’s Economic Security
CWES

Monica Bradley
Founder
Purposeful Capital

Elizabeth Toussaint
ASBFEO
Principal Data Analyst, Economics and Data Analytics Team

Karena Ly
CMO
Lift Women

Catherine Fitzpatrick
Founder and Director
Flequity

Angela MacMillan
Commonwealth Bank Group
Customer Advocate

Nicola Stokes
General Manager
AMP Foundation Tomorrow Makers

Dreu Harrison
Founder & Director
Poetic Thinking

Ben Crothers
Principal Facilitator
Bright Pilots

Dr Alicia Aitken
Transition Delivery Director – Suncorp Integration
ANZ Bank

Suanne Russell
Lead Ombudsman Small Business and Transactions
Australian Financial Complaints Authority AFCA

River Paul
Director Economics and Data Analytics
Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman
ASBFEO

Rosie Thomas
Deputy Director
Super Consumers Australia

Emma Dawson
Executive Director
Per Capita

