JCI’s newest partnership was signed during the 2020 JCI World Congress on 7 November with WBAF (the World Business Angels Investment Forum). 

An affiliated partner of the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI), the World Business Angels Investment Forum (WBAF) is an international organisation aiming to ease access to finance for businesses from start-up to scale-up, with the ultimate goal of generating more jobs and more social justice worldwide. It is committed to collaborating globally to empower world economic development by creating innovative financial instruments for innovators, start-ups, and SMEs.

The Forum interacts with leaders in all areas of society, first and foremost in business and political spheres, to help assess needs and establish goals, bearing in mind that the public interest is of paramount importance. WBAF engages a wide range of institutions, both public and private, local and international, commercial and academic to help shape the global agenda.

The partnership was officially launched on 7 November 2020, when the WBAF Executive Chairman, JCI Ambassador Baybars Altuntas and 2020 JCI President Itai Manyere signed an official Memorandum of Understanding (MOU).

Through this relationship, JCI and WBAF hope to address some of the world’s most pressing economic challenges together by promoting financial and digital inclusion, female leadership, business development and entrepreneurial skills development.