Goldman Sachs has announced plans for its One Million Black Women (OMBW) initiative, a $10 billion investment in support of Black women over the next 10 years. The initiative is named for and guided by the organization’s goal of impacting the lives of at least one million Black women by 2030.
This is the largest ever investment to focus exclusively on Black women.
Speaking exclusively with ESSENCE, Goldman Sachs’ CEO David Solomon said, “Given all that’s happened over the course of the last year, we’ve done a lot of talking at the firm—and even more listening—to help us figure out how we can do more to end the racial inequity and the gaps that have existed in society for well too long.”
He added, “What we’re trying to do is to set up the infrastructure, the commitment, and the resources to have something that’s sustainable over a long period of time to really make a difference. If after six months from now people are going to say, ‘Okay, where’s the beef,’ the response is going to be, ‘We’re just getting started.’ There’s a tendency with these things for companies to make an announcement and then for it to fade away. If we had said $500 million, we would have done some good things for a year, but it wouldn’t have the tangible impact that we’re really trying to have… Impact comes with sustained effort over a long period of time. We’re very prepared for that.”
According to Margaret Anadu, Global head of sustainability and impact for Asset Management, “How we hire women, how we retain women, how we promote women, how we invest in their companies—this is a massive cultural issue with deep roots.”
Read the full story from Essence, here.