Lloyd Blankfein is Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs. In this exclusive IFC Perspectives interview, he talks about the Goldman Sachs Foundation’s groundbreaking 10,000 Women initiative and the Women Entrepreneurs Opportunity Facility (WEOF), a first-of-its-kind partnership with IFC, to improve access to finance for SMEs owned or run by women.

Launched in 2014, WEOF has now raised almost $1 billion to support women entrepreneurs across the developing world, helping to transform thousands of lives.

Blankfein shares what spurred the decision to create the 10,000 Women initiative, what makes him especially proud about the initiative, advice to other private sector organizations and other topics.