Meral Guzel is the Partnership Manager of Women’s Entrepreneurship Accelerator, a multi-partner initiative designed to improve women entrepreneurship around the world in collaboration with five United Nations agencies.

She has previously worked as the Women’s Empowerment Principle Specialist to establish WEPs Secretariat within UN Women. She founded and launched the Women’s Banking department of BNP Paribas TEB and also designed and managed several multi-country entrepreneurship programmes at the World Bank.

Meral has a wealth of experience in global development with 15 years of experience in programme and policy work on gender equality in collaboration with the private sector, financial institutions, governments, CSOs and institutional partners. Meral’s expertise includes women empowerment at the workplace, banking on women, financial inclusion (MSME development, remittances, access to finance) and women’s entrepreneurship.

Meral is an economist and holds Master’s degrees in High European Studies, International Finance and International Franchise and SME Development. She speaks Turkish, English, French and Spanish. She is the proud mother of three sons.