[October 10, 2018]

Girls Who Invest Celebrates International Day of the Girl

Girls Who Invest, a non-profit organization dedicated to increasing the number of women in portfolio management and leadership in the asset management industry, is proud to celebrate the International Day of the Girl and contribute to this year's theme of 'A Skilled GirlForce.'

Since 2012, when the United Nations declared October 11 as the International Day of the Girl, organizations, leaders and advocates around the world have been raising awareness of the needs and challenges faced by girls and the importance of fostering their empowerment. The 2018 theme of 'A Skilled GirlForce' represents a year-long campaign to bring together partners and stakeholders to raise awareness of, and address, the most pressing needs and opportunities for girls as they prepare for a successful transition into the workforce-goals supported by the mission of Girls Who Invest.

Given this year's theme of 'A Skilled GirlForce,' we are prouder than ever to look back on the progress we've made by empowering nearly 500 young women in just three years," said Seema Hingorani, Founder and Chair of Girls Who Invest. "Yet, despite this progress by our organization and many others, there is still a lot of work to do. For example, in the United States about 10% of mutual fund portfolio managers are women-a stat that underscores the extent of the gender gap in the industry and importance of our collective mission. At Girls Who Invest, we are so grateful for the support of our extraordinary partners as we continue building towards greater opportunity for young women and ultimately better outcomes for investors everywhere."

Girls Who Invest provides internship and career training programs for high potential college women. In its first three years of operation, Girls Who Invest has accomplished the following:

• Empowered nearly 500 college women, including sending a total of 190 scholars through its flagship 10-week Summer Intensive Program and providing another 285 students with online learning courses offered by the Aresty Institute of Executive Education at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the CFA Institute.
• During its Summer Intensive Program, offered scholars unique training through Accounting Comes Alive, Training The Street, Bloomberg (News - Alert), and CFA Institute, which supplemented the already rigorous academic programs led by its partner schools, the University of Pennsylvania and University of Notre Dame.
• Attracted a diverse cohort of scholars at its Summer Intensive Program, of whom 26% are socioeconomically disadvantaged and 20% are considered among historically underrepresented minorities. In its most recent cohort of 100 scholars, 45 different universities and 40 distinct undergraduate majors were represented.
• Along with its academic and internship partners, fostered an experience for its summer scholars that encouraged the beginning of a career in investment management, with over 80% of scholars staying in the investment business.
• Increased the number of internship partners from 26 in 2016 to 66 firms in 2018.
• Launched a private career site offering scholars access to exclusive job opportunities available at partner firms, with the ability to connect with other alumni scholars.

"As we look forward, we are excited to continue our momentum and expand our role in creating a more skilled GirlForce in the asset management industry," added Janet Cowell, CEO of Girls Who Invest. "We are grateful to have such strong academic, financial and strategic partners that have been critical in helping us deliver training to our scholars. I am especially pleased with the growing presence of our academic partners on our board and advisory board, which will help guide us as we continuously improve our curriculum."

Bilge Yilmaz, professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, remarked, "Girls Who Invest's multi-faceted approach to training prepares its scholars to succeed in the workplace. Experienced business school professors teach the fundamentals of finance and provide a survey of the various asset classes. These learnings are then brought to life through experiential case studies and panel discussions with industry leaders. After the four weeks on campus, they are ready to hit the ground running at their internships."

Imani Dews, a 2018 Girls Who Invest scholar, added, "The training this past summer was critical to my success as a summer intern with T. Rowe Price. I developed practical skills in areas such as financial modeling and Excel-as well as a broader understanding of financial markets-which enabled me to make a positive impact for my team. I am grateful to Girls Who Invest for providing me with this incredible training and including me in such a supportive community."

In 2018, Girls Who Invest has added 22 new financial partners and is delighted to have the support of the following institutions:

About Girls Who Invest

Girls Who Invest is a non-profit organization founded in April 2015 dedicated to inspiring and empowering young women to pursue investment management careers-a field challenged by a lack of diversity. We are committed to changing this imbalance. Our goal is to see 30% of the world's investable capital managed by women by 2030. Our approach is simple and practical: create a pipeline of talented, motivated young women through educational programs-both on-campus and online-meaningful paid internships and a robust ongoing community. For more information, visit www.girlswhoinvest.org.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20181010005511/en/

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