(Love et al. 2023). While insurance products hold significant potential, they have not been rigorously evaluated with women-led businesses. IFC and AXA (2015) estimate that women’s spending on insurance premiums will triple its current size, reaching $1.4 trillion to $1.7 trillion by 2030. Battaglia et al. (2023) assert that flexible loan repayment options can serve as an insurance mechanism and enhance business performance. Bianchi and Bobba (2013) suggest that predictable income from cash transfers can decrease risk aversion and promote business investment. Groh and McKenzie (2016) designed and evaluated an innovative product for entrepreneurs to cover macroeconomic risks, but they did not observe significant effects on business outcomes.

Innovations in design are necessary in this area, including those tailored to the needs of women-led businesses. For instance, products that offer business interruption protection for women entrepreneurs, such as permitting the suspension of loan payments during maternity leave, could be beneficial. Considering women’s dual roles as caregivers and entrepreneurs, solutions that enable them to manage risk and provide protection during personal crises or business interruptions hold promise.<sup>26</sup>

## 4.7 Reducing gender biases among financial intermediaries

Some studies suggest that women investors are more inclined than their male counterparts to fund women-led businesses (IFC et al. 2019), highlighting the importance of increasing women’s representation in leadership roles within banks and investment funds. However, two studies in Türkiye reveal that both male and female loan officers exhibit implicit biases against women, although such biases diminished with experience (Alibhai et al. 2019c is based on a loan-application experiment and Brock and De Haas 2023 conduct lab-in-the-field experiments). Implementing gender intelligence training may be an effective strategy to combat unconscious bias.<sup>27</sup> Many financial institutions do not track sex-disaggregated data, leaving them unaware of potential gender biases in their services. Therefore, collecting and analyzing sexdisaggregated data should be a strategic imperative for financial institutions, governments, regulators, and corporations (Bonfert et al. 2023).

# 5 Interventions to increase access to markets and technology

One leading explanation for the gender gap in business performance is that women-led businesses tend to be concentrated in lower-paying industries and sectors worldwide (World Bank Group 2021).<sup>28</sup>

> 26 An example is IFC’s Women Insurance Program, which has collaborated with eight insurance companies across Africa and Asia to pilot insurance solutions tailored for women. These include a life insurance policy to support personal goals of women entrepreneurs in Nigeria, an insurance bundle that protects against accidents, fire, and burglary for microbusinesses, and comprehensive insurance coverage for women-led MSMEs in Ghana.

> 27 IFC (2021) details Gender Sensitivity Training provided to 660 senior managers, staff, and agents at an insurance company in the Philippines. A non-causal evaluation indicated that the training led to noticeable changes in the participants’ gender biases and enhanced their interactions with women customers.

28 Evidence from Africa and Southeast Asia shows large gender gaps in profits even within sectors, which means that sectorial segregation cannot fully explain the profits gender gap (Campos et al. 2019, World Bank 2021). Moreover, 14