STRENGTHENING SUPPORT
for Women Entrepreneurs in
COVID-19 Response and Recovery
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for Women Entrepreneurs in COVID-19 Response and Recovery

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This guidance note was prepared by the United Nations
Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowermentof Women (UN Women) under the WE EMPOWER –G7 programme funded by the European Union andjointly implemented with the International Labour
Organization. The brief was led by Stephanie Dei andNancy Mitchell with substantive contributions from
Madison Bailey, Anna Fälth, Stephenie Foster, Meral
Guzel, and Diana Rusu of the WE EMPOWER UN Women
team; Jade Cochran and Anna Gollub of the UN Women
Economic Empowerment Section; Laura Addati of the
WE EMPOWER ILO team; Aida Lindmeier of the ILO
Partnerships Department; Charleine Mbuyi-Lusambaof the ILO Women’s Entrepreneurship Development

Programme; Marina Santalices Amigo of Google;
Claudia Baron, Alison Giordano, and Daniela Rey ofMastercard; Stephanie Birkner of the University of
Oldenburg; Gabriela Kostovska Bogoeska of WEgate;
Zoe Dean-Smith of Vital Voices; Cheryl Miller van Dÿckof the Digital Leadership Institute; Jill Earthy of the
Women’s Enterprise Centre; Patricia Greene of Babson
College; Anne Laure Humbert of Oxford Brookes University; Jennifer Jennings of the University of Alberta;
Amparo De San José of the IESE Business Angels Network; Leora Klapper of the Better Than Cash Alliance;
Kellie Kreiser of Arizona State University; Beata Gutman
Krivoshey of Grasshopper; Charlene Lambert of the
Women Entrepreneurship Platform; Sophie Lambinof the Women’s Forum for the Economy and Society;
Virginia Littlejohn of Quantum Leaps Inc.; Rebeca
De Sancho Mayoral of Enterprise Europe Network;
Virginie Naigeon-Malek and Julia Simon of Mary Kay;
Blandine Mollard of the European Institute for Gender
Equality; Barbara Orser of the University of Ottawa;
Sanja Popović Pantić of the EEN Women Entrepreneurship Sectoral Group; Tania Saba of the Université deMontréal and Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge
Hub; Vicky Saunders of SheEO; Nora Spinks of the VanierInstitute of the Family; Elizabeth Vazquez of WEConnect
International; Deloris Wilson of Axl Impact Studio; andNancy Wilson of the Canadian Women’s Chamber ofCommerce.

We further acknowledge and thank those who participated in the WE EMPOWER G7 Programme Virtual Café and Online Discussion July 2020 for their contributions
to this tool, along with Oliver Gantner for the design and ProseWorks for the editing of this tool.
UN Women is grateful to the European Union External Action Service for its partnership and contribution to the WE EMPOWER – G7 programme.

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INTRODUCTION
COVID-19 has exacerbated inequalities and posed a
serious threat to the gains made toward women’s economic empowerment. The negative economic impactsof the pandemic are felt especially by women who are
generally earning less, saving less and holding insecurejobs or living close to poverty.
The pandemic has disrupted global supply chains thus
affecting women’s work at every level along value
chains.1 Globally, women represent 55.8 per cent of
employees in service industries, and in the G7, womenmake up approximately 88 per cent of the service industry workforce.2 During the pandemic, many of these
women are unable to work remotely and families haverequired additional support with childcare given school
and daycare closures.3

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Prior to the crisis, the global community was reviewing 25 years since the adoption of the 1995 Beijing
Declaration and Platform for Action and communities around the world were uniting to call for radical
action under the Generation Equality campaign.
Today, we see the sizeable cracks that COVID-19 has
exposed in our social, political and economic systems.
We now have an opportunity – and an imperative –to build an ecosystem for women’s economic empowerment that fosters growth, sustainability, and resilience
for women entrepreneurs.

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WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP ECOSYSTEM
Gender equality is everyone’s responsibility. Whether
advocating individually or collectively, as part of organizations and companies, we all play an important rolein supporting women’s entrepreneurship and working
toward economic equality for all. We can challenge
gender stereotypes, seek out advocacy initiatives
geared toward supporting women entrepreneurs,
develop new advocacy initiatives to fill existing gaps,
and make a conscious effort to purchase locally andinternationally from women entrepreneurs, women-led
businesses and gender-responsive companies.
The women’s entrepreneurship ecosystem works together at various levels to strengthen women’s economic empowerment. The three main stakeholder
groups alongside women entrepreneurs themselves
within the women’s entrepreneurship ecosystem are

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the public sector, the private sector and civil society.
Together these three groups are vital to fostering an
ecosystem that enables women entrepreneurs tosurvive and thrive.

Women entrepreneurs are women who organize and manage an enterprise, including theself-employed and sole proprietors working
across all industries. All women entrepreneurs,
but particularly those in the informal economy, stand to benefit from enhanced legislation, policy and advocacy support. Business relationships and partnerships can help
them advance, including by joining businessassociations to access networks and industry-specific knowledge. If empowered, they
can contribute to growing the economy andemploy citizens, young and old.

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MAIN STAKEHOLDER GROUPS
The public sector comprises government
at all levels. The state plays an integral role increating an enabling environment with policies to deploy funding, programmes, education andskills development to support women entrepreneurs.
Public sector leaders can foster women’s economic
empowerment by also promoting women’s leadershipand capacity as employers. Governments and politicalleaders at all levels are encouraged to consult and workwith women entrepreneurs to establish and implement
supportive policy and regulatory frameworks.

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The private sector comprises companiesof all sizes as well as organizations such asprofessional and trade associations. UN
Women and the UN Global Compact developed the
Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) to support
the private sector in advancing gender equality within
their organizations, along their supply chains and in
local communities. As a large employer, the private
sector has important leadership and advocacy roles
with ripple effects in the workplace, marketplace andcommunity. Some companies can use their technicalexpertise and leadership to offer skills development
and mentorship, while others can use their purchasing power to create new economic opportunities for
women entrepreneurs. Corporate supplier development training can be particularly invaluable for women
suppliers.

Civil society organizations (CSOs) comprises academic, not-for-profit, non-governmental organizations and individuals.
Whether as advocacy organizations or citizens, theyplay a critical role in supporting women entrepreneurs,
as well as communicating their unique needs, mobilizing the community, and establishing solidarity with acollective voice.

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DEFINITIONS SET THE PACE OF GROWTH
The European Union (EU) defines entrepreneurs as
persons aged 15 years and older who work in their own
business, farm or professional practice to make a profit,and spend time on the operation of a business, or arein the process of setting up a business.4 These entrepreneurs consider the running of their enterprises tobe their main activity.5

ADVOCACY TOOLAs per the EU definition, woman entrepreneurs arethen women 15 years and older running enterprises as
their main activity.
However, since governments and large corporations– the largest buyers of goods and services – are increasingly committed to awarding women-owned
businesses valuable contracts, a clear definition of“women-owned business” has become paramount.
The same applies for investors that also have an increasing interest in investing in women-owned businesses.

OTHER COMMONLY USED DEFINITIONS• Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM)
defines entrepreneurship as any attempt
at new business or new venture creation,such as self-employment, a new businessorganization, or the expansion of an
existing business, by an individual, a teamof individuals, or an established business.6• Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD) defines entrepreneurs as those persons (business owners)
who seek to generate value, through thecreation or expansion of economic activity,
by identifying and exploiting new products,
processes or markets.7

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The most common and widely used definition of a women-owned business is that it must be at least 51 per cent owned, managed and controlled by one
or more women. 8
However, there are discrepancies on how the definition is translated in practice with severe implications
for policy creation, implementation and the overall
impact on women’s entrepreneurship and women’s
economic empowerment. For example, where spouses are equal business owners in a family business,a woman may be restricted in applying for fundingby the 51 per cent ownership requirement.

Expanded and broadly agreed upon definitions of
women-owned and women-led companies would
better support women’s economic empowerment.
Such a broad and inclusive definition needs to capture
all forms of women’s economic activity, including businesses led or owned by women, as well as women’s
self-employment, sole proprietorship, and women in
the informal sector.

An initiative to improve definitions and foster global
agreement on terminology can enhance the development of evidence-based policymaking and facilitate
international comparability of sex-disaggregated dataon women’s enterprises.
For the purpose of this advocacy tool our recommendations speak to women-led businesses for inclusivity.

Or when women owning 51 per cent of their business want to grow their companies and seek to attract
equity investments, they are faced by a trade-off oflosing their status as a “women-owned business”(since most investors are men).9

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INTERSECTIONALITY MATTERS
Women are not a homogeneous group. Women comefrom diverse backgrounds with different identities
and abilities that shape their roles, needs and how
they access support. For example, women living inremote and rural communities often require additional support in accessing the Internet compared tourban women.

Implementation of the recommendations in this document is most successful when applied with an intersectional lens. This involves considering women ofdifferent abilities, ages, citizenship/immigrant status,
ethnicities, races, regions, religions, sexual orientation,and socio-economic backgrounds, among other considerations.

Public sector, private sector, and civil society stakeholders play a central role in combating stereotypes
and supporting entrepreneurship that is inclusive of
all women. Stakeholders need to re-evaluate existing
policies and programmes to identify gaps and barriers
experienced by women of diverse backgrounds andintersecting identities.

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MOBILIZING SUPPORTTO REMOVE BARRIERS TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND COVID-19 RECOVERY

Women’s entrepreneurship is a driver for economic
growth and sustainability. Even before the global pandemic, there were several barriers to women’s successin business. These could be overcome by providing
women entrepreneurs with:• An enabling environment (including legal
and policy considerations).
• Access to information, skills and knowledge.
• Access to markets.
• Access to finance.
• Access to networks.
Specific COVID-19 response and recovery strategies
should be geared towards women entrepreneurs to
capture their needs. All three groups of stakeholders

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can play a role in ensuring that women entrepreneurs
lead the way in developing and informing response
and recovery strategies.

THE WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENTPRINCIPLES

The recommendations included in this advocacy tool highlight stakeholder roles andresponsibilities for strengthened Women’s Empowerment Principles (WEPs) implementation.
Established by UN Women and the UN Global Compact, the WEPs are informed by international
labour and human rights standards and grounded in the recognition that businesses have a stake in,and a responsibility for, gender equality and women’s empowerment. The WEPs offer concrete
guidance to business on how to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment in theworkplace, marketplace and community. WEPs signatories are increasingly demonstrating theirstrong commitment to gender-responsive business practices through various policies, programmes
and initiatives to accelerate gender equality.

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METHODOLOGYIn July 2020, the WE EMPOWER – G7 Programme teamhosted a two-part virtual event: “Empowering Women
Entrepreneurs to Drive Economic Growth.” The event
featured a virtual café and a week-long online discussion
forum hosted on EuroGender, the European Institutefor Gender Equality’s collaborative platform. The event
convened stakeholders from the private and public
sectors as well as civil society, including representatives of women’s small business support organizations,industry associations, and economic empowerment
experts and academics from across the G7, European
Union, and other regions.

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The inspiring and dynamic dialogues informed a seriesof recommendations to sustain and promote women’s
entrepreneurship within COVID-19 response and recovery strategies. Recommendations were classified by thethree main stakeholder groups. Discussions also highlighted the unique nature of women’s entrepreneurshipand the important role stakeholder groups have in ensuring that women entrepreneurs survive and thrive.
The insights and perspectives shared by participants
coupled with our research, consultation with women’sbusiness associations across the G7 and EU and a partner review process also inform the recommendations
provided to better support women’s entrepreneurshipamid COVID-19.

The recommendations in this tool are further informedby the five pillars of the 2020 W20 and by the 2019 W20
Communique calling for the development of a policy
framework and action plan to strengthen the business,financial and digital capacity of women’s enterprises.
They are also underpinned by the 2019 W20 call fordeveloping partnerships with women’s business associations and other national and international stakeholders focused on women’s access to corporate andpublic procurement, international trade, digital markets,and e-commerce services.10
The recommendations in this brief complement the2020 G7 High Level Round-Table calls for G7 Member
States to work together to promote gender equality
and women’s empowerment in COVID-19 crisis response and recovery.11

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ADVOCACY DEFINED• Advocacy is a set of organized activities designed to influence the policies and actions of others to achieve change.12• Advocacy can be used to democratize and change decision-making processes to better serve marginalized individuals orgroups, to empower people (particularly those were initially excluded from policies and supports), and to ensure thatchange is built around action.13• Feminist advocacy, in particular, challenges unequal gender power relations and questions the distribution and control ofresources, decision-making power, and the power of agenda-setting and determining priorities.14• Advocacy plays a key role in the redistribution of priorities and resources, and strengthening informed decision-making tobetter address the needs of women entrepreneurs.

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INSTRUCTIONS ON USING THE ADVOCACY TOOL
The Advocacy Tool is designed to facilitate specific actions that everyone can take to support
women’s entrepreneurship.

To get started, click on your stakeholder group:

1. Determine your stakeholder group.
2. Review the recommendations.
3. Consider the opportunities and challenges to implement changes.
4. Start conversations in your organization, community or workplace to discuss how best
to implement our recommendations.
5. Check out the additional resources for further guidance.
6. Identify other like-minded organizations you can align with and collectively build support fortargeted recommendations.
7. Provide training to stakeholders on how to advance policy changes.
8. Orchestrate public relations and social media campaigns in support of your agenda amplify
the messages of other advocates and tag the WEPs and Empower Women on social media in youradvocacy efforts.

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PUBLIC SECTOR

Governments at all levels(federal, provincial, municipal, local)

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PUBLIC SECTORPUBLIC SECTOR RECOMMENDATIONSCREATING AN ENABLING LEGAL AND POLICY ENVIRONMENTDATA-DRIVEN POLICIES AND GOALS: Develop a national policy framework with concrete goals to boost
the performance of women entrepreneurs.
Governments can continuously collect, analyze and use
data disaggregated by a range of intersectional factors,
and based on gaps identified, develop a national policy framework with measurable goals and targets, suchas a Women’s Entrepreneurship Policy, accompanied
by an implementation strategy with a dedicated teamand budget. End-of-year progress reports can be used
to further respond to gaps, changes in the environment and, potentially, set new targets.
Capturing entrepreneurs’ gender and other demographic differences into account will inform decision-making across stakeholder groups and help ensure
an inclusive recovery from the pandemic. Intersectional sex-disaggregated data can be collected on key
points including the number of:
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• Individuals starting businesses (including business
continuance and discontinuance).
• Women-led businesses employing people (broken
down by sex, as well ability, age, citizenship/immigrant status, ethnicity, race, region, religion, sexual
orientation, socio-economic background andother identities).
• Employees employed by women entrepreneurs.
• Women-led businesses raising funds broken down
by type of funder (commercial lenders, angel investor, venture capital, private equity, development
and alternative lenders, etc.).

• Women-led businesses being awarded government grants and contracts.
• Women-led businesses participating in e-commerce and exporting.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and algorithms can be
developed to analyze issues such as bias in the allocation of funding, start-up growth rates, and intersectional disadvantages. Data can be collected nationally,
but also disaggregated by province, state, region andcity, which can then be used to better inform policies
and programmes. Including such cohorts as rural,
young and mature women entrepreneurs, womenfrom racial minorities, indigenous populations, andimmigration or immigration descent, as well as STEMpreneurs and STEAMpreneurs (the A referring to theArts and Creative Enterprises is also important).

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BUILDING WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP POLICIESCanada: The Women Entrepreneurship Strategy
seeks to double the number of women-owned
businesses by 2025 and is backed by a CAD 5 billion
investment.15 The strategy offers extra capacity-building support, assistance to export and reach newmarkets, increased knowledge and data, best practices for women entrepreneurs through the Women
Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub and the Women
Entrepreneurship Fund.16

Ireland: Enterprise Ireland 2020 Action Plan for
Women Businesses features several key objectives
including increasing the number of:17• Women-led established companies growinginternationally.
• Women in middle and senior management andleadership roles in Irish companies.
• Women becoming entrepreneurs.
• Women-led start-ups with high growth potential.

Sweden: The Swedish Agency for Economic andRegional Growth runs three programmes initiatedby the Government regarding women’s entrepreneurship: The Government’s Ambassadors for Women’s Entrepreneurship, the National Programme forDeveloping Resource Centers for Women, and thePromoting Women’s Entrepreneurship. The latter
programme focuses specifically on focuses on providing tools, advice on innovative financing, activities such as mentorship, business transfer, businessangel networks, and changing existing negative
attitudes to women who run companies and to
women’s entrepreneurship.18

GOOD PRACTICES FOR COLLECTING DATA

• Fund annual surveys of entrepreneurs, with a cohort tracked over time.

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• Encourage business registries to collect data at the time of registration.

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COLLABORATION: All sectors and levels of government can work together to support women entrepreneurs and ensure that women are at the forefront of
COVID-19 recovery and transformation strategies. A holistic approach can be employed to ensure that policies support one another and that women’s entrepreneurship is accounted for in a broad range of economic policies.
National government bodies can work with othernations to scale-up national policies, foster collaboration, and share best practices. This could be undertaken within the context of the G7 or G20 to support
women’s businesses which are growing internationally,
and to contribute to regional or global economic
growth and recovery.
Local governments can establish policies that seek
to address the specific needs of all women entrepreneurs. This coordination can be supported throughthe creation of dedicated working groups or multi-stakeholder forums and policy-design processes thatcascade across different levels of government.

ADVOCACY TOOLTo ensure a holistic approach, government leaders
can ensure both vertical collaboration (ensuring thatwomen entrepreneurs are prioritized at all levels ofgovernment and at all stages of policy and programming development) and horizontal collaboration(ensuring that ministers of differing portfolios work
together to support women entrepreneurs (such as
Ministry of Education, Ministry of Women and Gender,
Ministry of Finance) This type of collaboration minimizes gaps and fragmentation in policy development
and programme implementation.
National and regional public sector leaders are encouraged to coordinate funding to address service fragmentation, thereby streamlining recovery funding andaccess to knowledge.

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SOCIAL PROTECTION: State-led social protection for entrepreneurs with family responsibilities is vital. When governments strive to ensure that those withcaregiving responsibilities are supported, and that the equal division of care work between partners is encouraged, women’s economic opportunities increase.
Providing family leave options for entrepreneurs isparticularly essential for women. An EU Directive, forexample, states that Member States shall take the necessary measures to ensure that female self-employedworkers are granted a sufficient maternity allowance
for at least 14 weeks.19
Governments can provide maternity and parental leavethrough insurance and also state-supported childcare
with, for example, parents being able to apply for
financial assistance if their child is enrolled in a licensed
childcare programme, and tax-free child benefits depending on the parents’ income.

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Moreover, governments can ensure that people whoare both entrepreneurs and formally employed haveaccess to paid paternity and parental leave. If fathers,
who are formally employed, for example, are able totake paid paternity and parental leave, it could provide
mothers who are entrepreneurs the flexibility to return
to work sooner.
With COVID-19 related school closures, the need forgovernment-supported childcare is vital, given theincrease in unpaid care work and the constricted economy. Options include caregiver grants to alleviate theadditional responsibilities that, in many cases, have
hampered women entrepreneurs during COVID-19.

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PUBLIC SECTORACCESS TO INFORMATION, SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE
CAPACITY-BUILDING: increase opportunities for women to develop entrepreneurial skills and competencies.
Governments play a role in ensuring that early adolescent education incorporates information on entrepreneurship, including business strategies, and digitaland financial literacy. By educating young people,
governments can ensure that the gender divide within
entrepreneurship is eliminated early on.

Given the COVID-19 pandemic and the rapid shifts inworking structures, governments can provide skills-building, training and tools for women to pivot andshift their business models in order to anticipate market
disruption and transformation. Training can be done
collaboratively with the private sector:• Information on prototyping and the protectionof intellectual property.
• Movinge into new sectors, such as those that cangenerate green jobs.
• How to participate in government procurement.

Ideally, these training programmes would be tailoredto address the specific concerns facing different subgroups of women including:• Aspiring versus established business owners.
• Opportunity-driven versus necessity-driven
entrepreneurs.
• Enterprising women in different career life-cycle
stages (school-to-work transition versus early/
mid-career vs. late-career transition).
• Women who have extra care responsibilities
caused by school and daycare closures during
the pandemic.
However, this kind of support needs to be distributed fairly, to ensure that those in more vulnerable situations are prioritized and reached promptly.

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PUBLIC SECTOR

DIGITAL LITERACY AND ACCESS TO TECHNOLOGY: Increased support to close the digital gender divide, and the rural-to-urban digital divide, through a concerted
effort to enhance digital skills development and training targeted at all women entrepreneurs.
The global pandemic has accentuated the urgent need for connectivity and digital literacy for women entrepreneurs. Those who lack access to the Internet, smart phones and other vital technologies will fall further behind.
Governments can reduce these technological barriers for example by:• Ensuring that broadband Internet is widely andeasily accessible to all women. This includes bringing it to remote/rural locations and providing better pricing. While this will take time, governments
can start making progress by providing mobile
hotspots and portable off-network devices thatsimulate connection.
• Use Universal Service Funds funding to support
affordable access to entrepreneurs and provide
emergency services for women entrepreneurs
with special needs during such crises as COVID-19.

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• Streamline customs processes and provide womenwith the ability to purchase devices or make inexpensive refurbished equipment available.
• Ensure that access to digital tools is made available to women in both urban and rural areas,
including access to cloud technologies. By providing women entrepreneurs with training to develop their digital skills, better economic outcomescan be achieved.

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PUBLIC SECTORACCESS TO MARKETSSUPPLIER DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION: Few governments explicitly support supplier diversity, including through small business and public procurement
programmes, to support women. Building resilient and inclusive value chains is integral to advancing women-led small businesses.
Global value chains are heavily influenced by systemic
gender inequality. Trade policies that enable women tocompete on an equal footing with men can support
women in growing their businesses and accessing
new markets, including through e-commerce.
The public sector can also develop policies that encourage prime contractors to utilize women-led businesses as subcontractors, and to mentor them on
supplier development skills. In addition, governments
and businesses can design procurement policies allowing smaller, women-led businesses to partner withlarger entities in submitting bids.

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Governments can:
• Use their purchasing power to advance gender-responsive procurement policies and encourage
the use of gender equality clauses in public contracts, including bid evaluation criteria, and financing agreements.

• Raise awareness about gender-responsive procurement and support events, such as “meet thebuyer” events, business to business (B2B) opportunities and public procurement events withwomen-led SMEs, both locally and internationally.

• Use the WEPs as the framework for assessing andpurchasing from companies committed to genderequality and women’s empowerment.

• Create gender-responsive approaches tailored to
women-led micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), and ensure that MSMEs are targetedthrough supply chains.

• Develop and implement targets or quotas on sourcing from women-led small businesses in public
procurement, and provide training programmes
for women to learn how to match potential contracts and submit effective proposals.

The public sector can also require or encourage primary contractors to source from women-led businesses
as sub-contractors, and encourage them to provide
mentorship and other support on supplier development skills.

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PUBLIC SECTORGENDER-RESPONSIVE PROCUREMENT DEFINEDGender-responsive procurement is defined as the selection of services, goods and civil works that considers their impact on gender equality and women’s empowerment.20
Gender responsive procurement is about:• Sustainably selecting services, goods or works
that consider the impact on gender equality
and women’s empowerment and seek toreduce barriers preventing women’sbusinesses and workers from benefiting frombusiness opportunities.
• Promoting gender equality and women’s
empowerment through purchasing policies
and practices.

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• Bringing together all parts of the organization
to maximize the benefit of inclusive andsustainable sourcing.
• Inclusive sourcing from women-owned
businesses, and doing business with genderresponsive companies. Supplier diversity isa critical component of gender-responsive
procurement.

• Considering the big picture and how gender
power relations are embedded in market
transactions, including procurement which
drives massive economic activity worldwide
and is thus relevant to corporate delivery on
the SDGs.
• Benefiting both buyers and suppliers.

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PUBLIC SECTORPUBLIC SECTOR: GOOD PRACTICES• The US Federal Government has establishedthe Small Business Act, mandating agovernment-wide goal for participation bysmall businesses to be a minimum of 23 percent of the total value of prime contracts
awarded by the federal government for eachfiscal year.21 The Act also establishes a goal forparticipation by small businesses “owned andcontrolled by women” of not less than 5 percent of the value of all prime and subcontracts
awarded for each fiscal year.22• Kenya’s public procurement policy reserves
30 per cent of government contracts for
women, youth and persons with disabilities.23

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• In Tanzania, the Public Procurement(Amendments) Act 2016 directs public
institutions to set aside 30 per cent of theirplanned procurement specifically for specialgroups including women, youths, the elderly
and people with disabilities.24• South Africa’s Broad-Based Black Economic
Empowerment (BBBEE) policy reflects South
Africa’s efforts to “situate black economic
empowerment within the context of abroader national empowerment strategy
focused on historically disadvantaged people,
and particularly black people, women, youth,
the disabled, and rural communities”.25

Policy guidelines state that 1 per cent of net
profit before tax should be spent on social
development, whereby companies areencouraged to have at least 75 per cent non-white beneficiaries.26 BBBEE is enforced
through preferential procurement andobjectives of the policy include empowering
more black people to own and manage
enterprises and increasing the extent to which
black women own and manage existing andnew enterprises, among others.27

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PUBLIC SECTORACCESS TO FINANCE
INCREASED ACCESS TO PUBLIC FUNDING: Provide funding to ensure women entrepreneurs have the support needed to withstand economic shocks.
Governments can offer:

Governments can also:• Funding earmarked for women entrepreneurs inpandemic response and recovery efforts to ensure
their businesses can withstand the impacts ofthe pandemic.

• Provide capital for start-ups, such as microgrants,
rewards-based crowdfunding, scale-ups, andgrowth-focused companies, such as loans, equity,and equity crowdfunding.

• Implement anti-bias trainings for decision-makers,
investors and venture capital organizations andreview existing regulations regarding entrepreneurial funding.

• Capital relief programmes for self-employed workers, independent contractors and sole proprietors
to ensure all types of women entrepreneurs canbenefit from financial relief programmes.

• Establish Apex Institutions to channel funding(loans, grants, and guarantees) to institutions that
support women entrepreneurs, and ensure thatloans and grants are short-term with easy liquidity.

• Develop policies and targets to encourage more
women to enter the financial sector as decision-makers, investors, corporate innovation units,partners in venture capital funds, etc.

Investing in financial literacy is key to ensuring thatwomen’s businesses can start and thrive – despite
economic shocks such as COVID-19. Governments canpromote financial literacy and business education on
financial risk and mitigation strategies.

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• Strengthen the capabilities of women entrepreneurs to build and manage high-growth businesses of international scale.

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PUBLIC SECTORFINANCIAL INCENTIVES: Support new financing pathways that streamline access to investment for
women entrepreneurs to support response and recovery and to increase the number and sustainabilityof women-led businesses.
Governments can:• Offer tax incentives to encourage investors to invest in women-led small businesses.
• Incentivize to private equity, venture funds, andcorporate venture financing to invest in women
entrepreneurs and women-led companies.
• Encourage greater private sector lending and investment by promoting competition for digitalfinancial products and services and implementing
global good practices to support competition andconsumer choice. When financial service providers face meaningful competition, they have agreater incentive to tailor financial products for
women and to provide better customer service.

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PUBLIC SECTORACCESS TO NETWORKS
DEVELOPMENT OF WOMEN’S BUSINESS NETWORKS: Working with civil society and the private
sector to strengthen organizations and support
virtual spaces for women to develop their networks
to advance and increase economic opportunities.
Through grant mechanisms and public-private-partnerships, governments can fund the creation of women entrepreneurship networks in both physical andvirtual spaces. These networks would allow women to
share resources, unite to impact policy change, andintegrate more women suppliers in their own supply
chains. Women entrepreneurs need to be encouraged
to join women’s business associations to participate inmentoring and coaching programmes. Giving themaccess to pro bono professional services could also be
included in these organizations/platforms. Industry
leaders can connect with women’s business associations to share and gain knowledge.

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PUBLIC SECTOR

ADVOCACY IN ACTION• Develop public-private partnerships that are geared to the advancement of women entrepreneurs.
• Create a virtual marketplace or host a virtual workshop for women entrepreneurs to foster business opportunities and collaboration.
• Fund CSOs and women’s business associations focusing on strengthening women’s entrepreneurship.
• Connect with local, regional, and international governments to understand how they are supporting women entrepreneurs– sharing best practices and showcasing strong policy developments.
• Champion gender-based analysis, ask questions to understand the impact of policy on diverse entrepreneurs.
• Consult with CSOs and women’s business associations to understand dynamic needs and impact on women entrepreneurs.
• Establish inclusive best practices and gender parity early on in policy development.

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PRIVATE SECTOR

Private and publicly held companies • State-owned corporations
Industry associations • Chambers of commerce
Trade and professional associations

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STRENGTHENING SUPPORT
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PRIVATE SECTORPRIVATE SECTOR RECOMMENDATIONSACCESS TO INFORMATION, SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGESUPPORT SKILLS-BUILDING: The private sector can support community mentorship and training initiatives by sharing its expertise and technical knowledge
in areas such as financial literacy, digital skills, and soft skills.
Large multinationals often develop programming thatstrengthens the markets where they do business.
However, there is also an opportunity here to encourage the private sector to fund the development oftraining programmes that target women entrepreneurs
through community engagement initiatives. Programmes that focus on financial literacy education,
digital skills development, and soft skills related toleadership and presentation, provide significant value.

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Industry-specific training may strengthen the private
sector by increasing the pool of potential suppliers andemployees. The private sector can also include women
entrepreneurs in public-private and policy dialogues
to foster increased collaboration.
Larger firms can prioritize skill-transfer initiatives,
resource sharing and low-cost or pro bono businessproducts to all women entrepreneurs as part of theircommunity-building initiatives. This training builds on
basic digital literacy skills, ensuring that women havethe knowledge that will help them to grow their businesses. Larger firms can also utilize employee resourcegroups to connect with local entrepreneurs, helping
them to share their skills and expertise with other businesses. In some cases, companies often share theirfacilities or provide access to unused space for women
entrepreneurs.

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STRENGTHENING SUPPORT
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PRIVATE SECTOR

The private sector can lead trainings focused on:• Continuity planning during a crisis and the ability to provide leadership in times of great change.
• Identifying and evaluating new business opportunities.
• Tips for teleworking, digitization of business and online marketing strategies.
• Risk-mitigation strategies, diversifying revenue streams, and identifying new trends.
• How to write a business case and pitch a product/service.
• Information on prototyping and the protectionof intellectual property.
• How to participate in corporate procurement.
• Challenges in operations to be awareof when scaling a business.

Multi-stakeholder partnerships among corporations,
women’s business associations, incubators and accelerators, governments, and international trade organizations could work towards a common goal of promoting women’s digital inclusion.
The private sector can ensure that women are recruited and retained in leadership roles which, in turn,can offer women entrepreneurs role models, as wellas access to successful businesswomen as mentors.
Companies can then identify and document the impact of their capacity -building efforts.

• Business administration including cash
flow management, inventory management,
marketing, employees, taxation, legal, etc.

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STRENGTHENING SUPPORT
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PRIVATE SECTORACCESS TO MARKETSDIVERSIFY CORPORATE VALUE CHAINS: Support women’s entrepreneurship by setting targets to source a share of their purchasing of goods and services
from women-led businesses.
During and after the pandemic, it is imperative to act
quickly to leverage purchasing power with women-led
businesses. The private sector can:There is also a need to establish enabling programmes
and policies through, for example, B2B or gender-responsive procurement. Private sector buyers can:• Highlight their commitment to sustainable practices and gender equality.

• Engage procurement teams and establish theirbaseline spend on products and services sourced
from women-led and women-led businesses.

• Mirror their diverse customer and employee base.
• Support their clients.
• Support business growth in key markets.
• Innovate for competitive advantage.
• Meet local or national content requirements.
• Reduce costs through increased competition.
• Access local knowledge and networks.
• Enhance their corporate brand within thecommunities they serve.

ADVOCACY TOOL

• Set global and/or local targets to track and increase their annual spend with competitive women suppliers.
• Build a strategy to increase their direct and indirectspend with women suppliers.
These targets could be responsibly shared with lenders
to build alternative credit scores and to access supply-chain financing.

WEPs SIGNATORIES:COMPANY COALITIONS TOESTABLISH TARGETS

Accenture, Citi, Ernst & Young, and Procter& Gamble each committed to source $100
million from women-owned businesses.28
This $400M commitment was to be delivered
through WEConnect International partners,
contributing to the $1 billion goal committed
on the Global Citizen stage from corporations
towards women’s economic empowerment
in the past 12 months.29

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STRENGTHENING SUPPORT
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The private sector can work with civil society and associations that certify women-owned and women-led
business to source from certified women-owned andwomen-led firms and diversify their supply chains(bearing in mind that current definitions of women-owned businesses may leave out a number of women-led firms that do not meet the 51% definition that isprevalent in many countries). Partnerships with CSOs,
nationally and internationally, can help to organize andhost virtual matchmaking events and trainings that
seek to enhance opportunities for women-owned andwomen-led businesses in global value chains.

PRIVATE SECTOR• Streamline cumbersome and lengthy application
processes.
• Carry out gender-responsive due diligence surveys
and source from companies that offer decent employment for women workers, and from informal
workers.
• Establish appropriate award criteria for contracts
offering with the best overall value (rather thansimply the lowest price).

• Pay women business owners promptly (cash flow
management is a major challenge in small businesses).
• Ensure products sourced from women-owned
and women-led businesses are highlighted withspecial certification symbols, stickers, or tags toincrease consumer awareness.
• Review supply-chain strategies to identify ways toimprove their positive impact on gender equality
through relationships with sub-distributors.

To ensure that women-owned and women-led businesses are able to participate in supply chains, theprivate sector can:

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STRENGTHENING SUPPORT
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PRIVATE SECTORACCESS TO FINANCE
DATA-COLLECTION: Collecting intersectional data and gender statistics to better understand how
corporate financial policies affect women, altering and adapting policies accordingly to offer specificfinancial products and services.
Financial service providers can collect gender statistics and sex-disaggregated data with strong attention tointersectionality to better understand the gender implications of their financial service offerings and use thisinformation to strengthen and promote innovative solutions and financial services for women-led businesses in
the markets they serve. Companies can collect data based on:• The number of women entrepreneurs (broken
down by different abilities, ages, citizenship/immigrant status, ethnicities, races, regions, religions,sexual orientation, socio-economic backgrounds,
among other considerations) utilizing financial
services and tools including fintech, mobile moneyand blockchain.

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• Women entrepreneurs gaps in knowledge about
financial services.
• The business outcomes for women (broken down
by different abilities, ages, citizenship/immigrant
status, ethnicities, races, regions, religions, sexual
orientation, socio-economic backgrounds, among
other considerations) using such tools.

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STRENGTHENING SUPPORT
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This data would highlight bias in company policy andservice offerings, identify gender gaps and barriers,
and encourage companies to change their practices
to better support women entrepreneurship. Data canalso provide insights into which policies are having
the greatest impact, or which markets, providers or
localities are accelerating progress or lagging behind.
Data can also be collected on the gender diversity ofsenior management and staff at financial institutions
and their access points, such as the number of women
who are loan officers at bank branches, or who are
branchless banking agents. Financial service providers
would also benefit from increased awareness of thefindings from research conducted by CSOs on gender-related bias in assessments of entrepreneurs and theirventures.

ADVOCACY TOOLPRIVATE SECTOR

Financial service providers can design digital financial
services that meet the needs of women-led firms,
which can save money for businesses by eliminating
the cost of handling cash within a business. If women
entrepreneurs received digital payments from customers and used digital payments to pay suppliers, they
could use this transaction history to prove creditworthiness, thereby helping them to access loans. Alongwith the services, there is a need for educational programs on how to best use the services to ensure thatwomen entrepreneurs can easily transition from cash
to digital payments, and a need to obtain accessible
insurance to make their business more resilient.

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STRENGTHENING SUPPORT
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PRIVATE SECTOR

INCREASE THE DIVERSITY OF INVESTORS AND THE NUMBER OF WOMEN INVESTORS: This is critical to unlocking new capital, supporting more diverse
entrepreneurs and to giving financial opportunities to women-owned businesses.
Financial institutions can use the WEPs as a guide tostrengthen women’s participation and women’s leadership and expertise in the financial industry as investors. Strengthening education about investing throughtraining and showcasing role models while demystifying what it means to be an investor can further
buttress women’s roles as investors.

Research indicates that investment opportunities areoften sourced from existing networks.30 As such, women entrepreneurs have a higher likelihood of securing
an investment when a female investor is involved. 31
Therefore, by increasing the number of women angeland VC investors, there will be increased private capitalgoing to women entrepreneurs.

The private sector can fund new women-led ventures,
host in-person or online workshops that provide
financial literacy, and give women the opportunity topitch to investors, and also to invest in the businessesof their peers. Through awareness, education and community, the private sector can increase the number offemale investors to unlock new capital, support morediverse entrepreneurs and distribute wealth.

ELIMINATE BARRIERS TO FINANCE: Giving women entrepreneurs an increased opportunity to thrive.
The private sector can deepen collaboration withpublic sector and civil society networks to develop
robust financial solutions. The private sector can match
loans/grants and explore opportunities to work withcorporations, development lenders and financial institutions to offer a combined capital product.

ADVOCACY TOOL

Often funding is tied to innovation and frequently
interpreted as having to be science, technology, engineering or math based (STEM), which limits, for example, opportunities for women entrepreneurs in thecreative arts. Expanding definitions of innovation to
include STEAMpreneurship will increase funding
opportunities to more women entrepreneurs.

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PRIVATE SECTOR

ADVOCACY IN ACTION• Examine your firm’s gender equality policies and champion the WEPs internally through conversation with management and HR.
• Join campaigns to support women’s economic empowerment, amplify messages and tag the WEPs social media accountin your advocacy efforts.
• Participate in Meet the Buyer and B2B events for women business owners to share knowledge on your procurement process.
• Engage in community initiatives to support women entrepreneurs and buy from women-owned and women-led businesses.
• Work with CSOs to offer mentorship, skills-building and training for women entrepreneurs.
• Create an enabling environment for women in STEMpreneurship and STEAMpreneurship using the WEPs as a frameworkfor supporting women in the workplace.
• Consider how your products and services may be needed by women business owners and seek ways to ensure they havesufficient access to them (e.g. financial products).

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CIVIL SOCIETY

Academia (teachers, professors, those is academia) • Activist groups • Charities
Clubs (sports, social, etc.) • Community foundations • Community organizations
Consumer organizations • Women’s business associations • Cooperatives
Foundations • Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) • Support groups
Non-profit organizations (NPOs) • Private voluntary organizations (PVOs)
Religious organizations • Social movement organizations • Voluntary associations

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STRENGTHENING SUPPORT
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CIVIL SOCIET Y

CIVIL SOCIETY RECOMMENDATIONSCREATING AN ENABLING ENVIRONMENTENHANCED COLLABORATION AMONG STAKEHOLDERS: Civil society is uniquely positioned to foster collaboration across stakeholder groups from different
sectors and varying regions, as well as the public and private sector.
Increased collaboration among academia, businessassociations and other advocates (CSOs) can foster
policy change through the use of research-driven
and evidence-based insights. It can also enhance themonitoring of progress towards gender equality andwomen’s economic empowerment, by scrutinizing
the unintentionally (re)produced and widely sharedmasculine dominated notion of entrepreneurship.

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Increased collaboration also allows civil society networks to support women’s access to mentorship andconnect new start-ups to successful women entrepreneurs and business leaders. Civil society can work acrossstakeholder groups to develop a comprehensive mapping of local, regional and international stakeholders
committed to advancing women’s entrepreneurship.
This not only leads to an understanding of existing
stakeholders, but also an understanding of interactions
between them.

Civil Society can develop innovative, campaigns tounite the women entrepreneurship ecosystem anddrive change that celebrate female role models, demand gender-friendly innovation, disrupt old attitudes
and stereotypes about women entrepreneurship andtraditionally gender-segregated sectors.

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CIVIL SOCIET YACCESS TO MARKETSSTRENGTHEN INCLUSIVE SUPPLY CHAINS: Create and advocate for more procurement opportunities
on the domestic and international level.
Business and professional networks, particularly women’s business associations, are essential for exchanging
information and mentoring women’s businesses andentrepreneurs. By purchasing local goods and services
from women entrepreneurs, civil society can play a keyrole in building inclusive value chains. Civil society networks can leverage existing platforms and establish
new virtual and in-person marketplaces within theirassociations, enabling women to support each otherthrough the selling of products and services.

ADVOCACY TOOL

The networks available for women tend to be limited
and consequently, so do commercial opportunities.
CSOs can promote both short-term and long-term
solutions for a more resilient future by lobbying for
more gender-responsive trade and procurement
policies. Civil society can promote partnerships, collaboration, and cross-promotion between women
entrepreneurs to ensure solidarity and encourage amultiplier effect.

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CIVIL SOCIET YACCESS TO INFORMATION, SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGEPROVIDE EDUCATIONAL TOOLS: Offer entrepreneurship training and education material focusedon women.
Civil society networks can:• Develop gender-smart entrepreneurship content
and curricula to encourage more women to become entrepreneurs.
• Provide training on ecommerce, patents, trademarks, and licensing.
• Develop and promote financial education programmes, to improve women’s financial literacy,skills, confidence, and entrepreneurial capacity.
• Reach women on social media platforms to deliver
training at all levels on advanced and emerging
technologies (such as data analytics, AI, the Internet of Things, Blockchain, augmented reality, etc.).

ADVOCACY TOOL

• Use the stories of successful women in videos toinspire others.
• Host crash courses for both start-up and established entrepreneurs.
• Engage the educational and training community
to mentor and provide “consultancy” services towomen-led (e.g., business schools and SME centers providing consultancy to these companies
through special outreach programmes).

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CIVIL SOCIET YAMPLIFY AND ENHANCE DIGITAL SKILLS TRAINING: Helping to connect women’s business associations and their members to markets, finance, knowledge and best practices, to opportunities andto technologies.
Civil society can play a role in determining the actual
digital needs of women entrepreneurs, creating transparent information-sharing practices, building centralized hubs for information, and engaging with womenfounders to ensure those with the most need canaccess the services provided. Civil society can connect
those who need support to institutions or to entrepreneurs that have the knowledge and know-how.

STRENGTHEN SKILLS: Civil society networks support women entrepreneurs when entering into
global markets.
Civil society can offer internationalized services andensure that women-led businesses are export-readyand able to compete in international markets. This includes encouraging women entrepreneurs to engage
in global value chains by providing assistance andconnecting them to relevant initiatives. Moreover,

ADVOCACY TOOL

civil society networks can ensure that education on
supply chains and procurement is built into small business training programmes. The creation of networks
for going global and assisting women entrepreneurs toaccess international markets and sell globally is also
important.

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CIVIL SOCIET YACCESS TO FINANCEPROVIDE INNOVATIVE FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS: Civil society networks support women-led firms through collaboration with financial institutions.
Women and men tend to tolerate and manage risk
differently when financing their ventures, and opportunities for gathering information, attending pitch
events, and accessing loan products often do not fit
the needs of women. CSOs can partner with financial
institutions to design initiatives tailored to women
entrepreneurs such as debt, equity and grants to explore streamlined matching programmes.

• Capital for start-ups (microgrants and rewards-based crowdfunding).
• Capital for scale-ups and growth-focused companies (loans, equity, and equity crowdfunding).
• Creating a community of diverse funders and investors (accredited and not).

Civil society networks can advocate for alternativemeans of financing and investment platforms. Improved regulations in many countries facilitate opportunities to create democratized and more sustainablefunding pathways that streamline access to capital,
education and community-building. These efforts arestrongest when linked to public policy.

Civil society can support new funding pathways thatstreamline access to capital, education and community for women entrepreneurs including:

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CIVIL SOCIET YADVOCACY IN ACTION• Volunteer with local non-governmental organizations that support women’s entrepreneurship.
• Organize a conversation on how your community can empower women entrepreneurs in the community. Get different
members of the community involved e.g local banks, local government, women entrepreneurs and businesses.
• Create a podcast/ online blog on diverse women entrepreneurs that highlights successful women entrepreneurs froma diverse set of background.
• Write a letter to your local government about the importance of women’s entrepreneurship.

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STRENGTHENING SUPPORT
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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
CANADAEUROPE•A Feminist Recovery Plan for Canada•

Primer on the Gendered Impacts of COVID-19•

Enterprise Europe Network•

Assessing the Impact of Trade Agreements on
Gender Equality: Canada-EU CETA•

Scotiabank Women Initiative•

Care & Industry together against CORONA•

SheBoot•

FMO: Entrepreneurial Development Bank•

Beacon Women’s Report: Women Entrepreneurs andInnovation (French Version)•

Strengthening Ecosystem Supports for Women
Entrepreneurs•

How a Gender Smart Strategy Can Boost Your
Growth and Returns•

Carleton University Special Projects•

The Impact of COVID-19 on Women Entrepreneurs••

Digital Main St.

•

The State of Women’s Entrepreneurship in Canada 2020

Increase in funding for game-changing green
innovation and woman-led companies•

Falling Through The Cracks: COVID-19 Survey ofUnderrepresented Founders•

Vancity Unity Women Entrepreneurs Program•

Level20

Women Entrepreneurship Knowledge Hub

New Financial

Federal aid package won’t save small businesses fromCOVID-19 fallout

•

•

•

•

Women’s Enterprise Organizations of Canada••

FrontFundr•

Women Entrepreneurship Research Exchange

WA4E - Women Business Angels for Europe’s
Entrepreneurs

W Venture

WE Gate Success Stories

Future Capital

•

•

•

•

Women Entrepreneurship Platform•

Gender-Smart Entrepreneurship Education & Training
Plus GEET+•

Women in Digital Scoreboard•

Why are women entrepreneurs missing out on funding?
Reflections and considerations - Executive summary

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GLOBAL/MULTI-REGION••••

Accelerating affordable smartphone ownership in
emerging markets•

Gender Avenger••

Gender equality in the world of work: Towards atransformative and measurable agenda for moreequal societies

Innovation, Entrepreneurship and the Future:
International Women’s Day 2020 - Summary andResearch Report•

Maternity and Paternity at Work:
Law and practice across the world•Notes from the AI frontier:Tackling bias in AI (and in humans)•

Policy Brief: The Impact of COVID-19 on Women•

Report of the High-Level Panel on Digital Cooperation•

The Better Entrepreneurship Policy Tool•

The Care Economy•

The COVID-19 response: Getting gender equality
right for a better future for women at work•

The Failure Institute•

The Procurement Initiative•

The Women’s Empowerment Principles Gender Gap
Analysis Tool

Assessment of Women’s Entrepreneurship
Development
COVID-19 and Gender Equality: A Call to Action for
the Private Sector•

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor•

Global Findex Database 2017

COVID-19 and violence against women and girls:
Addressing the shadow pandemic•

Global Supplier Trade Finance•

Google AI Tools•

Guidance Note 4: Integrating gender equality inmonitoring and evaluation
G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion “Advancing
Women’s Digital Financial Inclusion” report•

DreamBuilder•

EQUALS Global Partnership•

Equality Means Business: Using Our Principles as a
Multiplier for Action and Progress••

Enabling ecosystem for WED•

AI Fairness 360•

Family-Friendly Policies and Other Good Workplace
Practices in the Context of COVID-19: Key Steps
Employers Can Take•ILO Violence and Harassment Convention, 2019(No. 190): 12 ways it can support the COVID-19
response and recovery

Global Entrepreneurship Model 2018 / 2019 Women’s
Entrepreneurship Report••

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ILO- Women’s Entrepreneurship Development
Programme

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STRENGTHENING SUPPORT
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U.S.
•

Two ways to make the COVID-19 recovery more
inclusive for women•

Algorithmic bias detection and mitigation:
Best practices and policies to reduce consumer harms•

UNSG’s Digital Financing Task Force of the SDGs•

Annual Survey of Entrepreneurs: An Introduction•

WEConnect••

WE EMPOWER•

Women at the core of the fight against COVID-19
crisis - OECD

Bias-Busting Algorithms: Can AI Help VCs Diversify
Their Deals?Catalyzing Change in Equity Investing:
Disrupting Models for Financing Women’s
Entrepreneurship•

Women, Business and the Law••

Women enterprise policy and COVID-19:
Towards a gender sensitive response

Creating Inclusive High-Tech Incubators and Accelerators:
Strategies to Increase Participation Rates of Womenand Minority Entrepreneurs.

••

Women’s Empowerment Principles

Crowdfunding as a Capital Source for Women
Entrepreneurs•

Women’s Entrepreneurship Development•

Ellevate•

Women’s Entrepreneurship Self-Check•

Get Werkin•

Women in Business and Management:
A global survey of enterprises•

IGNITE: Creating an Innovation Ecosystem that Worksfor Women•

The World Bank Entrepreneurship Database••

Women in Venture Report 2019

Mitigating Bias in Artificial Intelligence An Equity
Fluent Leadership Playbook•

PEW Research Center•

Tech Rebalanced

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ENDNOTES
1.

WE EMPOWER G7 Programme Team, “COVID-19 and Gender Equality:
A Call to Action for the Private Sector” 2020, available at: https://www.
empowerwomen.org/en/resources/documents/2020/04/covid-19-andgender-equality-a-call-to-action-for-the-private-sector?lang=en

2.

Ibid.

3.

Ibid.

4.

European Commission, “Statistical Data on Women Entrepreneurs in
Europe” (2014). Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/growth/content/studystatistical-data-women-entrepreneurs-europe-0_en

5.

Ibid.

6.

Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, “How GEM Defines Entrepreneurship”(n.d.). Available at: https://www.gemconsortium.org/wiki/1149

7.

Nadim Ahmad and Anders Hoffman,“A Framework for Addressing and
Measuring Entrepreneurship” (2007, OECD). Available at: https://www.
oecd.org/sdd/business-stats/39629644.pdf

8.

International Trade Centre, “Technical Note: Definitions for Women’s
Businesses” (n.d.).

9.

Ibid.

10. W20, “W20 Japan 2019” (2019) available at: https://w20japan.org/pdf/W20_
MoA.pdf
11. WE EMPOWER G7 Programme Team, “Call to Action for G7 Stakeholders”
2020, available at: www.empowerwomen.org/en/resources/documents/2020/07/call-to-action-for-g7-stakeholders. See also: www.weps.org/res
ource-category/covid-19-resources
12. Jessica Woodroffe, Emily Esplen and Sharon Smee “Women’s Rights Advocacy
Toolkit” Womankind Worldwide, (October 2011) available at: https://www.

womankind.org.uk/docs/default-source/resources/briefings/sections-1and-2.pdf?sfvrsn=4
13. Ibid.
14. Ibid.
15. Government of Canada, “Women Entrepreneurship Strategy” (2020) available at: https://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/107.nsf/eng/home
16. Ibid.
17. Government of Ireland, “Enterprise Ireland 2020 Action Plan for WomenBusiness” (2020) available at: https://www.enterprise-ireland.com/en/
Publications/Reports-Published-Strategies/Action-Plan-for-Women-inBusiness.pdf
18. Agency for Economic and Regional Growth – Tillväxtverket, “Women’s
Entrepreneurship in Sweden” (2009) available at: http://tillvaxtverket.eprint.se/System/TemplateView.aspx?p=E-View&id=ed2d7a32395249eeb
20831bed9f2b65a&q=women%27s%20entrepreneurship
19. European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, “Directive
2010/41/EU of the European Parliament and the Council”, Official Journal of
the European Union (2010), available at: https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUri
Serv/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2010:180:0001:0006:EN:PDF
20. UN Women, “Gender Responsive Procurement” (n.d.). Available at: https://www.unwomen.org/en/about-us/procurement/gender-responsiveprocurement

23. International Trade Centre, “Empowering Women through Public Procurement” (2014). Available at: https://www.intracen.org/uploadedFiles/
intracenorg/Content/Publications/Women%20procurement%20guidefinal-web.pdf
24. Public Procurement Regulatory Authority, “Seize Opportunities Createdby Procurement Law, Women Challenged” (n.d.). Available at: https://ppra.
go.tz/index.php/news-archive/562-seize-opportunities-created-byprocurement-law-women-challenged
25. Business in South Africa, “BEE” (n.d.). Availale at: https://www.businessinsa.
com/bee/
26. Ibid.
27. Ibid.
28. Katie Dallas, “2017: The Year Global Citizens Overrode Isolationism to Fight
Poverty” (2017). Available at: https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/2017-the-year-global-citizens-overrode-isolationis/
29. Ibid.
30. Lauren Robinson, “Why venture capital firms need more women partners
and entrepreneurs” The Globe and Mail 12 September, 2019. Available at:https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/careers/leadership/articlewhy-venture-capital-firms-need-more-women-partners-and-entrepreneurs/
31. Ibid.

21. Keric Chin, “The Power of Procurement: How to Source from Women Owned
Businesses: Corporate Guide to Gender-Responsive Procurement” (2017,
UN Women). Available at: https://www.unwomen.org/-/media/headquarters/attachments/sections/library/publications/2017/the-power-ofprocurement-how-to-source-from-women-owned-businesses-en.
pdf?la=en&vs=237
22. Ibid.

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