Increasing Investment in Women-Owned Businesses
Senior Industry Leaders Shared Their Insights
Female entrepreneurs and women led and owned small and medium enterprises (WSMEs) are crucial contributors to developing countries’ economies, and failing to close economic gender gaps in the Middle East, Central Asia, Türkiye, Afghanistan, and Pakistan (MCT) negatively impacts annual GDP in the region. Addressing this challenge is all the more urgent due to the region’s poor performance in the World Bank’s Women, Business and Law 2023 score. Nearly half its countries ranked lowest on the index. Additionally, in 2021, only 18 percent of women in the Middle East worked outside the home, in stark contrast to the 70 percent of men.
This webinar discussion, hosted by the Financial Times and IFC, explored the role that investors must play in increasing investment in female-founded WSMEs and bridging the gender finance gap for female-founded WSMEs in MCT.
World-Class Business Leaders and Speakers
Challenges
As there are many unconscious biases that affect women across the region, what are the biggest challenges they face?
Investments
What strategies can be implemented to ensure that gender-lens investing becomes a standard practice among lenders and early-stage equity investors?
Women Entrepreneurs
In what ways can business incubators and accelerators address the specific needs of women entrepreneurs, offering mentorship, networking, and funding opportunities to help them scale their businesses successfully?
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