A publication of International Finance Corporation's Gender Program
Third Quarter Edition, Global Newsletter: July 2009
Introduction
IFC's Gender Program welcomes you to its nineteenth quarterly newsletter designed to keep businesswomen in touch with key events, relevant research and, most importantly, each other! We provide brief descriptions of news, events, and online resources that will involve, inspire and inform you. Wherever possible and appropriate, we provide a link for further detail.
In this issue you will find news on IFC and World Bank Group activities, including IFC's program to support SMEs and women in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) through a local bank; global news reports such as HSBC's program to support women entrepreneurs in Arab countries through training; and upcoming events around the world which include the 4th Global Women Entrepreneurs Trade and Investment Forum taking place in Accra. This quarter's spotlight is on SURevolution, a lifestyle brand that markets hand-made products crafted by artisans in Latin America and Africa.
TThis newsletter shares helpful news and information with women entrepreneurs around the world. If you or your business association have an event you would like to make known, have a success story to share, or would like to tell us what you would like to read more about, please e-mail us. This newsletter is for YOU and we want you to be involved.
News from IFC's Gender Program and the World Bank Group
IFC Receives Good Rating on Gender Institutional Performance
Following a gender equality institutional assessment of IFC, the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), one of IFC's donors, rated IFC a "3 - promising" on a scale of 1 to 4. The assessment included a review of IFC's gender mainstreaming agenda and the initiatives put in place to support this mandate. The rating highlights IFC's commitment in creating opportunities for women professionals internally and women in business externally. Read more...
IFC Supports Women Entrepreneurs in DRC through Access Finance
IFC will invest in and provide advisory services to Rawbank, a local bank in the Democratic Republic of Congo, to strengthen the country's financial sector and help extend credit to smaller businesses and women entrepreneurs. Read more...
IFC Provides Credit Line for Women Entrepreneurs in Bosnia and Herzegovina
MI-BOSPO, a leading microcredit organization in Bosnia and Herzegovina targeting women, received a credit line from IFC for on-lending to women entrepreneurs. This investment is expected to reach an estimated 3,000 women entrepreneurs by the end of 2011. Read more...
IFC to Launch a Guide on Gender Sensitive Investment Climate Reforms
A consultative peer review meeting, including bi-lateral donor agencies, was held to discuss and finalize the "Addressing the Gender Dimensions of Investment Climate Reforms: A Guide for Policy Makers and Development Practitioners" on April 21-23 in Washington, DC. The Guide will be published and launched by the end of 2009 and is expected to be used as the primary resource for gender inclusive investment climate reforms around the world. For more information, contact Sevi Simavi.
IFC and the Inter-American Development Bank Collaborate on Access to Finance Study
The Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank, in collaboration with IFC, will gather data on women-owned enterprises in 6 countries in Latin America in order to better understand the gender implications of accessing financial services by women. The findings will be presented at the 2009 Inter-American Microenterprise Forum in Peru. For more information contact Caterina Meloni or Sergio Navajas.
World Bank Group's Gender Action Plan Two-Year Report Released
The Gender Action Plan (GAP), a World Bank Group program whose goal is to advance women's economic empowerment in client countries, published its two year progress report highlighting a broadened reach with the aim to gender mainstream all of the Bank's operations. Read more...
World Bank Group Hosts the First Forum on Supplier Diversity
The Global Private Sector Leaders Forum, an initiative of the World Bank Group Gender Action Plan (GAP) to engage private sector leaders in promoting women's economic empowerment, together with WEConnect International, a nonprofit organization that promotes women's enterprise development globally, hosted the first global strategic forum on supplier diversity as a means of empowering women. Participants discussed how to help create more supply chain opportunities for women and provide better access to markets for women-owned businesses. Read more...
World Bank Group Organizes a Conference on Female Entrepreneurship
On June 2 and 3, 2009, the World Bank, in collaboration with the International Policy Center at the Gerald R. Ford School, University of Michigan, organized a conference on constraints facing women entrepreneurs. Topics discussed included entrepreneurship and self-employment as an employment choice of men and women, patterns of sectoral concentration by gender and differential access to credit. Read more...
HSBC Launches Program to Support Women Entrepreneurs in Arab Countries
The HSBC Financial & Entrepreneurship Awareness (FEA) Program will support women entrepreneurs from 6 Arab countries through a three-week business training program to strengthen their skills in finance, banking, and entrepreneurship. Read more...
KAGIDER to Launch a Fund to Support Women Entrepreneurs
During the First International Women's Entrepreneurship and Leadership Summit organized by the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey (KAGÝDER), which took place on June 4 and 5, 2009 in Istanbul - Turkey, participants agreed to launch a fund to support women's entrepreneurship and leadership in Turkey and the neighboring countries. Read more...
Women Business Development Centers to be Opened in Pakistan
The Small and Medium Enterprise Development Authority (SMEDA), an institution of the Ministry of Industries of Pakistan set up to develop Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs), plans to establish 14 Women Business Development Centers (WBDC) in major industrial and commercial cities throughout Pakistan with the objective of facilitating and promoting women's entrepreneurship in the country. Read more...
Rwandan Women Entrepreneurs to Receive Training
As part of the "Peace Through Business" initiative, a training program designed by the Institute of Economic Empowerment of Women, a US based NGO focusing on women's economic freedom in war torn countries, 15 female entrepreneurs from Rwanda will be able to attend business courses at the university level, including mentorship through a partnership with fellow female entrepreneurs in the US. Read more...
Launch of the Africa Businesswomen's Network (ABWN)
During the World Economic Forum on Africa held in Cape Town in June 2009, the Africa Business women's Network (ABWN) was launched with the aim to address some of the unique barriers women entrepreneurs face, including negative and unsupportive policy and social environments, poor access to input and output markets and technologies; and inadequate access to information. Read more...
Women in Bangladesh Launch Initiative to Advocate for Better Policies
Women business leaders in Bangladesh have launched an initiative to address social, capacity-based, and fiscal barriers to women entering the marketplace. The Women's National Business Agenda (WNBA), launched on March 29, 2009 in Dhaka, aims to affect public policy reform by setting legislative and regulatory priorities and clearly communicating them to decision-makers. Read more...
Are Women in Africa Accessing Finance?
Although great progress has been made in recognizing the importance of gender equality, African women remain behind when it comes to accessing resources available through aid, government funds or the private sector in order to narrow the economic gaps that exist between men and women. This article highlights that "the disadvantages are often anchored in social institutions, macro-economic policies and development strategies that have not adequately recognized that women are important agents of economic development and poverty reduction". Read more...
US President Appoints Verveer as Ambassador for Women's Issues
President Barack Obama appointed Melanne Verveer as Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues. In her capacity as director of the Department of State's new office on Global Women's Issues, Ambassador Verveer will coordinate US foreign policies relating to the political, economic and social advancement of women around the world. Read more...
SURevolution Arising from the need to preserve ancient traditions, elevate hand-made crafts and provide sustainable employment for vulnerable populations, SURevolution, a lifestyle brand, was founded in 2004. Working with indigenous, rural and urban artisans groups from Columbia, Peru, Bolivia, India, Cambodia, Indonesia and South Africa, SURevolution has created a channel for hand-made products in the high-end market. As the founder, Marcella Echavarria highlights, "the vision is to create a universal brand that brings the world and work of artisans to the market with social, ecological and cultural principles that make handmade work a thriving option in today's world". The hardest part, she adds, is reaching markets in a sustainable manner and not as onetime deals". In light of this, US retail companies such as Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren, Tory Burch, William Sonoma, and Neiman Marcus who carry these products are long term strategic partners who understand the concept of selling a world view, a vision and a history worked into a design versus merely selling an assortment of products.
Behind this successful concept are the artisans, 70% of whom are women, who have the opportunity to continue working on and even passing on their traditions while generating an income for their families and community. As part of this process, SURevolution provides them with technical and entrepreneurial assistance. For example, in Columbia, SURevolution designers and production engineers put together visual manuals that explain step by step what is needed to achieve an excellent product for the high end market. The main goal for the training modules is to provide the women with a systematic approach to crafting which can be passed on to younger generations. Additionally, SURevolution is now incorporating women who were ex combatants in their urban workshops to produce ceramics, leather and candles for the US market. "We follow the cluster model where master artisans teach the craft while social workers and experts in vulnerable populations help us address issues such as personal safety, health, housing and child care" says Marcella. In Bolivia, SURevolution partnered with Kirah Design, to work with the wives of miners in order to teach them new skills that may allow them to earn additional income for their families. The women receive training in different aspects of the crafting business to enable them to sustain their small venture. The modules offered include: quality control, how to interpret designs, how to improve production processes (larger productions), costing and pricing.
SURevolution was the first organization to receive funding and capacity building from the Grassroots Business Fund's (GBF), a not-for-profit organization with a mission to build and support high impact intermediary organizations, through its Craft Incubator Facility (CIF) program. This initiative is a $250,000 funding "pool" that provides working capital loans and technical assistance funds for enterprises that generate income and sales for artisans. This support will help SURevolution grow and strengthen the network of its artisans.
In 2008, SURevolution received the US State Department's Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE), a yearly award given to small businesses and multinational corporations based on their commitment to corporate/social responsibility in countries where they do business. This award was in honor of their winning business concept as well as their social initiatives such as the ex-combatant program in Columbia.
Marcella Echavarria is the founder of SURevolution and leads its brand, marketing, sales, PR and Business Development strategy work. She has also been an editor, magazine writer and stylist for Harper's Bazaar, Axxis, .G, Semana, Elle Decoration UK, Vogue Entertaining and Departures Magazine. She holds a BA in history and literature from Brown University, a degree in book and magazine publishing from Radcliffe and a Masters in Sustainable Development from Universidad Jorge Tadeo Lozano in Bogotá, Columbia. For more information on SURevolution, please visit www.surevolution.com.
In each newsletter we spotlight either a businesswomen association that has developed an innovative idea, a process that promotes women's entrepreneurship, or an enterprising woman who has achieved success. If you have a success story to share, please email us with the details. We look forward to sharing your stories.
IFC's Gender Program is looking for expert consultants in the field of private sector development and gender, labor policies, gender implications of special economic/export processing zones, women's access to justice and alternative dispute resolution for future short-term assignments. If you have relevant experience and would like to be considered for an assignment, please email us.
July 23-August 2, 2009: The 4th Global Women Entrepreneurs Trade and Investment Forum will be taking place in Accra, Ghana. This conference brings together African women entrepreneurs, the major operators in the Micro-, Small- and Medium-Enterprises (MSMEs), relevant government agencies as well as national and regional Women Chambers of Commerce operating in Africa, Asia, Europe and the USA. Read more...
August 3-6, 2009: The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation's (APEC) Women Leaders Network meetings (WLN) will be holding its 14th meeting in Singapore to present recommendations to APEC ministers and leaders on the inclusion of gender perspectives and women's enterprises in the APEC agenda. The theme of this year's event is "Women and Sustainable Development in APEC". Read more...
August 7-9, 2009: The Dynamic Women Entrepreneur event taking place in Florida is aimed at providing education and resources that will support women business owners during these tough economic times. Read more...
August 21, 2009: On-line submission of nominations for the "Where Women Want to Work TOP 50" 2009 survey are due. The "Where Women Want To Work Top 50" is a survey of UK firms with more than 1000 employees aimed at educating women and industries about effective practices, information and evidence to assist with key career decisions. Read more...
September 30 - October 2, 2009: The 12th Foromic, the annual micro and small enterprise summit hosted by the Inter-American Development Bank, will be held in Peru. This event provides a platform for all stakeholders in the microfinance and microenterprise development industry to meet and exchange best practices, methodologies, and strategies to promote and support the microenterprise sector. The Summit will include a panel on challenges and opportunities of access to financial services for women entrepreneurs, where preliminary results of their study on gender implications of access to finance in six Latin American countries will be presented and discussed. Read more...
October 28-30, 2009: The 9th Annual Global Banking Alliance for Women (GBA) Summit will be held in Singapore. This year's summit will be hosted by Standard Chartered Bank and will bring together member banks operating in developed and emerging markets with the aim to share experiences and lessons learned in accessing the women's market profitably. Read more...
The OECD's "Is Informal Normal? towards more and better jobs in developing countries" launched in April 2009 looks into the issue of women in the informal sector. Read more...
The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College published a working paper on the effects of the current financial crisis on women. Read more...
Access the first issue of the International Journal for Gender and Entrepreneurship launched in 2009, which features a study on women entrepreneurs in 5 countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
"African Women and ICT" is a recently published book by the International Development Research Centre investigating the link between technology, gender and empowerment. Read more...
"Untapped Potential: Stretching Toward the Future", a research paper by Accenture, looks at key issues for working women. Read more...
We would like to thank the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the U.K. Department for International Development (DFID) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Iceland for their support.
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