EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Female entrepreneurship represents a vast untapped source of innovation, job creation and economic growth in the developing world. The barriers to women’s entrepreneurship are various: Women face greater obstacles in accessing credit, training, networks and information, as well as legal and policy constraints. The World Economic Forum shows little progress in narrowing the economic gap between women and men. Yet not all is lost! Innovative initiatives to promote women’s entrepreneurship—driven by both the private and public sectors—are on the rise. 

This brief provides an overview of the global landscape of women’s entrepreneurship. It aims to demystify the challenges that women face in accessing finance, and it highlights some of the typical challenges regarding capacity- building programs targeted at women entrepreneurs. Above all, this brief focuses on potential solutions and enablers by drawing on practical experiences from the public and private sectors in both emerging and developed markets. It concludes that innovative partnerships, particularly when private and public sector entities are involved, are beginning to make a dent, with the potential for large-scale impact. Those who embrace women’s entrepreneurship as an opportunity are likely to reap the rewards in new market opportunities and higher development impact.