Maghrebi women have come a long way in terms of pushing for political, social and economic reform, integrating their participation in decision-making, creating enterprises, and making investments. However, they still have a long way to go in terms of maximizing their contributions to the private sector and using entrepreneurship as a means to overcome cultural and social barriers among women.

Entrepreneurial women in the Maghreb still represent a small proportion of the total population, and are divided over cultural, socioeconomic, and even linguistic lines. Whether it is an illiterate woman running a small home-based sewing business or a female fashion designer who graduated from France’s L’École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts (National Advanced School of Fine Arts), Maghrebi women are united despite such divisions by the goal to contribute to their own households and their country, and to use business opportunities to improve their own situation and build a better future for the region…

Read the full article about women in the Maghreb and their role in the private sector.

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The Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) invites young people to share their ideas on how to create opportunities for youth to strengthen democracy and the private sector in their countries. Students and young professionals aged 18-30 are welcome to participate by writing an essay on one of the three topics: Democracy that delivers, Entrepreneurship and society, or Women and participation. Winning articles will be published by CIPE and receive a $1,000 honorarium.

Please visit the 2010 International Youth Essay Contest website at www.cipe.org/essay for further information and details about the contest.

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SMEs owned by women create the bulk of formal employment in most economies around the world. Women’s business associations can provide support for women-owned SMEs, and thereby assume the role of influential community change-makers and stakeholders. However, business leaders in developing countries, in particular women business leaders, face challenges that entrepreneurs in developed countries may never encounter. These barriers fall into two key categories: instability and infrastructure.

Closely tied to cultural, social, economic, and political country conditions, instability involves the struggles of women dealing with patriarchal restraints, corruption, and sometimes organized crime and war. Infrastructure barriers deal with weak or lacking institutions that inhibit women’s ability to conduct business. These include: property rights, recognition of women’s rights as human rights, accounting, taxation, and banking rules, and civil law. Overcoming the challenges posed by instability and infrastructure calls for an engagement of women’s NGOs and business associations as agents of change, as they advocate, support, and amplify necessary reforms

Read the full article: Empowering Women through Non-governmental Organizations and Women’s Business Associations.

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As we celebrate International Women’s Day, I am thinking of one of our earlier advocates for women’s rights here in the U.S. Susan B. Anthony was a suffragette in the days when that word carried a lot of opprobrium, but she stood fast for her principles and improved life for us all. Today is a different world and there is a lot more information and support available for women seeking to make a difference.

Where can women in your country access such information and support? Is there data available? Who is at the vanguard of representing women’s political enfranchisement and economic empowerment?

I’m interested in knowing more about the resources out there!

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“Few companies make social investments specifically aimed at empowering women in developing economies, but we believe that supporting this goal is good business and good practice for all companies. In the course of our work, we’ve uncovered a startlingly wide range of ways in which private-sector companies can offer sizable economic benefits not only to women and their societies but also to the companies themselves. The benefits to businesses come from enlarging their markets, improving the quality or size of their current and potential workforce (for instance, by attracting talent globally), and maintaining or improving their reputations…”

Read more about how helping women helps business and share some of your own experiences here.

To share an item with the Community of Women Entrepreneurs, send it to partners@cipe.org.

USAID’s Office of Women in Development and the BizCLIR project have released a report on the business environment for women in Rwanda. The report “identifies opportunities that can stimulate the country’s broader reform efforts with the ultimate goal of poverty reduction. In Rwanda, a common quote among stakeholders was ‘Poverty has a female face.’ Our evaluation provides the key areas for improvement for women as the country attempts to improve its position in the global economy, achieve the targets of Vision 2020, and takes advantage of the new East Africa common market. The report provides the Mission and other interested parties with an in-depth description of the key recommendations for change.”

Chapters include: institutional strengthening, entrepreneurial education and training, access to finance, and access to markets.

Read the report: “Rwanda: Investing in the Empowerment of Women in Business”

To share an item with the Community of Women Entrepreneurs, send it to partners@cipe.org

Here’s a story of persistence and personal improvement about a former cattle-herd in Zimbabwe. Thanks to Catalin and Melinda in Romania for sharing.

New York Times:
“Triumph of a Dreamer”

To share an item with the Community of Women Entrepreneurs, send it to partners@cipe.org.

The Center for International Private Enterprise has released its second study of associations representing women entrepreneurs, authored by Toki Mabogunje and Liz Jackson. Read Women’s Business Associations, Experiences from Around the World: Africa.

Women’s business associations throughout the region can have exceptional impact by organizing trade fairs and conferences to promote intra-African and international trade. The most successful associations also will be able to provide valuable management training and enable their members to access global markets. With the assistance, guidance, and support provided by women’s business associations, many more women-owned enterprises have begun to export their products and are gaining increased access to credit to expand their businesses. Some associations have created platforms for women entrepreneurs to network with each other to develop an advocacy plan on local and national economic issues central to their own advancement. Women’s business associations have the potential to push their members toward increased engagement in policy advocacy and assist them in migrating from the informal to the formal sector.

The success of the Ghana Association of Women Entrepreneurs’ members, leaders, programs, and alliances makes it an ideal bellwether for women’s business associations in Africa. The organization has played an instrumental role in lifting the financial level of its members and their staff, families, and communities. As members’ businesses grow, the organization grows as well, providing new benefits for members. Perhaps the most important service GAWE offers is a multisegment course that teaches members how to run their own businesses, from developing business plans to obtaining bank loans. Most members have never had such training and owe much of their success to the training and mentoring provided by GAWE. GAWE was founded by Lucia Quachey, a CWE member and president of GAWE.

Participants in the 4th Global Women Entrepreneurs Trade Fair and Investment Forum held in Accra, Ghana, from July 23 to 31, 2009, made recommendations for improving trade in the ECOWAS region. They identified goals for cross-border trade, capacity building, health care, food processing and packaging, and scientific information and technology. To achieve these goals, they called for women entrepreneurs in the region to come together to create a strategic plan, and they made recommendations to African governments and the international community.

Read the Recommendations from the 4th Global Women Entrepreneurs Trade Fair and Investment Forum

Lucia Quachey
President, Ghana Association of Women Entrepreneurs

Read the interview in BusinessDay:
“Toki: Developing, Sustaining Entrepreneurs the Legal Way”

“Business development is her passion, law is her profession, women liberation is her message – for a truly developing economy with the needed infrastructure.”

Read the interview in the Nation:
“The Many Hats that Toki Mabogunje Wears”

At Toki Mabogunje & Co., “our by-line here is that we nurture enterprises for growth. I’ve realised that helping others to achieve their true potential is what makes me truly happy…

Part of wanting to help businesses develop networking is a very important aspect of consulting and this is how I’ve gotten involved in business associations. That’s why I’m involved in the Chamber of Commerce, NASME, AWLTT (African Women Leaders Think Tank) and so on.”