Women’s Leadership in SMEs:

Gaps and Opportunities

June 8, 2012

Caren Grown USAID

Elena Bardasi The World Bank

Meg Jones International Trade Centre

Women’s Leadership in SMEs: Gaps &

Opportunities

Caren Grown USAID

Caren Grown is Senior Gender Advisor in

the Bureau of Policy, Planning and

Learning, where she leads USAID’s efforts

to integrate gender equality and female

empowerment throughout the agency’s

policies and programs. Dr. Grown is on

leave as Economist-In-Residence at

American University, where she also co-

directed the Program on Gender Analysis

in Economics.

BIO: Caren Grown

GRAPH: Number of Formal Owned

Women’s SMEs

Elena Bardasi The World Bank

Elena Bardasi is Senior Economist in the

Gender Unit of the Poverty Reduction and

Economic Management network at the

World Bank. Her current work focuses on

female entrepreneurship and gender

issues in the labor market. She has been

writing and publishing on issues related to

informal labor markets, time use, female

employment, female entrepreneurship,

wage differentials, and occupational

segregation.

BIO: Elena Bardasi

Meg Jones International Trade Centre

Meg Jones is the Women and Trade

Program Manager at the International

Trade Centre responsible for the design

and implementation of a multi-million dollar

program to increase the economic benefits

women derive from trade. Jones works

with governments, corporations, and

institutions to connect buyers to women-

owned enterprises and to improve the

business environment to foster women’s

export success.

BIO: Meg Jones

Growing economies through women’s

entrepreneurship: Gaps and Opportunities

Meg Jones, Women and Trade Programme Manager, ITC Seminar & Webinar organised by USAID 8 June 2012

OVERVIEW

• Introduction to the International Trade Centre (ITC)

• Identifying Gaps:

- National Export Strategies

- Gender-sensitive value-chain analysis

• Identifying Opportunities:

- Linking women entrepreneurs to supply chains

- Building capacity, measuring results

• Act now for impact!

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EXPORT IMPACT FOR GOOD

ITC’s MISSION

ITC improves small business export success in developing

countries by providing, with partners, sustainable and inclusive

trade development solutions to exporters, trade support

institutions and policymakers

ITC’s STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

Exporters Strengthen the international competitiveness of

enterprises in developing countries and transition economies.

Trade Support Institutions Develop the capabilities of trade

service providers to support exporters.

Policymakers Support policymakers in integrating the private

sector into the global economy.

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CASE : SUPPORTING WOMEN’S ECONOMIC

EMPOWERMENT THROUGH TRADE

Development Case:

• Women reinvest 90% on their income in their families, to men’s 30-40%, helping break inter-generational poverty

• Positive impact of income distribution to women in rural areas

(combating rural poverty, urban migration, climate change)

• Successful business women become strong community leaders and

role models for young women

Business Case:

• Injecting competition into the supply chain improves business outcomes

• Women are 50% of the innovation pool

• «Forget China, India and the Internet: Economic growth is lead by women» - Economist 2006

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IDENTIFYING GAPS: NATIONAL EXPORT

STRATEGIES AND VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS

«The vision of the Uganda National Export Strategy was to create a more

dynamic and competitve export-driven economy for national prosperity and

develoment with more participation by women. This resulted in the

commitment of resources to begin to address supply side challenges women

face. And to enhance the participation of rural women in particular in national

development and wealth creation.»- -

Rosemary Mutubale,

Business Advisory Services Enterprise Uganda

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OPPORTUNITY: PROCUREMENT

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• Increasing number of Fortune 500 companies in US targeting sourcing from women-owned enterprises • Requirements for ‘first tier’ suppliers to also target sourcing from women

• Strong in USA – going global

• Budding interest of governments

• Delivers on commitments to gender equality, Women’s Empowerment Principle 5

GLOBAL PLATFORM FOR ACTION

on Sourcing from Women Vendors

• Launched in 2010

• Women Vendors Exhibition & Forum

• 300 participants

• 19 countries

• USD15m in sales

• 6 – 7 November 2012 Mexico City

• Apply! www.intracen.org/womenandtrade

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ACT NOW: POST 2015

DEVELOPMENT AGENDA - Focuses political attention, channeling human and finanicial

resources

- Influences work programmes of United Nations, governments,

NGOs

Therefore:

- Critical need to ensure indicators capture impact on women’s

economic empowerment

- Gender sensitive indicators at all levels in Goals

and in logframes: Impact – through Output

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FURTHER INFORMATION:

Meg Jones

Women and Trade Programme Manager

International Trade Centre

jones@intracen.org

+41 22 730 0166 (Office)

+41 79 288 0083 (Mobile)

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Thank you for joining us!

This seminar series is a product of USAID’s Knowledge-Driven Microenterprise

Development (KDMD) project, implemented by The QED Group, LLC.

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Presenter Name: Caren Grown

Elena Bardasi

Meg Jones

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