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Why Trump's exit speech was another example of the lengths he'll go for pride

Outgoing US President Donald Trump waves as he boards Marine One at the White House in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2021. - President Trump travels his Mar-a-Lago golf club residence in Palm Beach, Florida, and will not attend the inauguration for President-elect Joe Biden.
Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images

Who would make a departure from the White House with an idealized sense of importance despite leaving the office in disgrace after two impeachments? Well, none other than soon-to-be former President of the United States.

Even with the incitement of the Capitol Hill riots and admiration for groups that encourage untruths, it's still quite baffling that he seems to cling to power even on the last day of his presidency. For example, it's customary that the President ensures a ride for the successor to arrive in Washington D.C., but Trump didn't do that for President-elect Joe Biden, which may have something to do with pride. Biden ended up getting his own private plane to come to the city.

Where is the respect?

Also, I can't help but wonder if another reason why Trump is not attending the inauguration has to do with not being able to receive privileges such as flying in the Marine One helicopter or being called President once noon hits.

In his speech to a crowd of family and some supporters chanting "thank you, Trump," he gave thanks as well, praising his family. "They worked really hard," he said at the Joint Base Andrews military base in Maryland. He also went on to say this about soon to be former First Lady, Melania Trump."Our first lady was a woman of grace and beauty and so popular with the people."

If you mean popular with the people for her efforts to prevent online safety, opioid addiction, and more with the "Be Best" initiative that contradicts Trump's disposition, then sure.

She got on the stand as well, going to give her appreciation and thanks for being the "First Lady of this great nation." He even stated that he believes the new administration will do a good job, even though he doesn't explicitly mention Biden. Again, this screams disrespect to me because of the lack of acknowledgment.

Trump appears to want the day to be about him when this a day about democracy and the very people within the nation.

Overall, Trump didn't shy away from mentioning that he worked hard, and maybe he is right. He worked really hard to fulfill the ideologies that he and those who think like him share.

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Women founders continue to come up against common challenges and biases

Written by Kelly Devine, Division President UK & Ireland, Mastercard

Starting a business may have historically been perceived as a man’s game, but this couldn’t be further from reality. Research shows women are actually more likely than men to actively choose to start their own business – often motivated by the desire to be their own boss or to have a better work-life balance and spend more time with their family.

The recently published Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurship 2021 found that in the category of 'Aspiration Driven Entrepreneurship’ – capturing those who actively choose to start their own business – women in the UK surpass men: 60% vs 56%. And Mastercard research from February 2022 found 10% of female business owners started their business in the past two years compared to 6% of men – meaning women were 67% more likely to have started a business during the pandemic.

Yet, there are common challenges that women founders continue to come up against - not least the gender imbalance in the household and long-held biases which are still prevalent.

In the UK, women are almost three times more likely to be balancing care and home commitments than men, and this was exacerbated during the pandemic as the additional barriers of school closures and lockdowns meant that the care time of dependents rose significantly on a day-to-day level for women. In addition, women were less likely to have access to a home office, greatly impacting the work they were able to accomplish when working from home was the only option.

It's also widely known that female business owners are still more likely to struggle to access funding for their business ideas. According to Dealroom, all-women founding teams received just 1.4% of the €23.7bn invested into UK start-ups in 2021, while all-male leadership teams have taken almost 90% of the available capital.

Without financial support, and when juggling significant time pressures both at home and at work, how can women grow their companies and #BreaktheBias (as this year’s International Women’s Day termed it)? What tools or support can save them time and money, and give them the headspace they need to focus on building their business?

With female owned businesses collectively estimating revenue growth of £120 billion over the next five years, solving this problem is bigger than supporting women – it’s about supporting the national economy.

Using tech to level the playing field

There are clearly societal issues at play that need to be resolved. But when we look at the rise in technology businesses during the pandemic, we can plainly see an alternative source of support critical for business growth: digital tools.

A third of female business owners say new technologies will be crucial to the success of their business in the future and one in five say it is the most important thing for business growth.

With new technology comes new ways to pay, create, and work. And yet there are barriers that prevent business owners accessing this technology. Women are significantly more likely to say they want to use more digital tools but don’t know what is best for their business and also more concerned about the security of digital tools.

When technology is adopted by businesses – whether using online accounting solutions or messenger services for communicating with staff – it saves them time, allows them to maintain and grow their customer base, and ultimately increases cost savings and profit.

By drastically improving the training and support that is available to women-owned business to access and utilise technology we will allow these businesses to grow and succeed. And we know there is demand for it.

Research done by the IFC and Dalberg shows that female entrepreneurs are more likely to invest time and money in business development. This includes product development, customer base expansion, and digital tools and training and there are plenty of services available offering this type of support – many of them for free.

One such programme is Strive UK – an initiative of the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth – which aims to reach 650,000 micro and small business owners across the UK and empower them with the tools they need to thrive in the digital economy through free guidance, helpful tools and one-to-one mentoring.

Working together with small business experts – Enterprise Nation, Be the Business and Digital Boost – we hope to ensure hundreds of thousands of UK female business owners have the tools they need to succeed and reach their ambitious goals. Because this ambition remains strong in the UK, with female business owners largely optimistic about the future despite the multitude of challenges they are facing. Four in ten say they will grow their business in the next five years – compared to only a third of male business owners – and they’re also 35% less likely than men to say they plan to downsize or close the business.

But if we do not empower female entrepreneurs to access the tools and technology they need to grow, there is a risk this optimism could be misplaced. Support programmes that provide business owners with guidance and mentorship can help ensure this isn’t the case, allowing female entrepreneurs to not only survive but thrive in the months and years ahead.