ADDIS ABABA (ILO News) - African women entrepreneurs are playing an ever-increasing role in African economies and will receive new support from the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the African Development Bank, the two organizations have announced here.
The ILO and the AfDB have jointly launched a series of reports ( Note 1) giving concrete recommendations for action to support growth-oriented women entrepreneurs (GOWE) in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The reports were to be presented this week at a series of workshops beginning in Nairobi, Kenya, on 28 November, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on 30 November and in Kampala, Uganda, on 2 December.
Based on observations, analysis and findings from field visits, the report "Support for Growth-Oriented Women Entrepreneurs" calls for development policies that can contribute effectively to women's entrepreneurship in the three East-African countries.
The AfDB - which advocates small and medium-sized enterprise development and women's access to finance -, and the ILO - which provides technical expertise through its Women's Entrepreneurship Development and Gender Equality (WEDGE) technical cooperation project - launched the report during an interactive workshop in Nairobi.
African women entrepreneurs are becoming more prominent in many African economies despite several specific constraints: limited access to land, credit, education, training, etc. Against this background, ILO and AfDB intend to boost their cooperation in developing an integrated solution to support financing for growth-oriented "micro" and "small and medium-sized" enterprises owned by women in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda.
The 2005 ILO-AfDB report also examines "good practices" and challenges in policy and programme support. It adopts an integrated approach to helping growth-oriented women entrepreneurs, including coordination, leadership, financing, training, business support, information sharing, networks and women entrepreneurs' associations, and the legal environment.
According to the report, the ongoing sub-regional discussions on women entrepreneurs not only affect Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, but also the rest of the continent. It recommends linking access to finance to business support services. Based on the findings of the report for Kenya, the AfDB has approved a new project to provide loan guarantees, business training and strengthening of associations of women entrepreneurs. As a further response to the reports in the four countries, the ILO will give greater priority to women's entrepreneurship in Africa over the next two years.
The report also calls for special efforts at the national and regional levels to challenge existing cultural and social practices and to allow women entrepreneurs to participate in private sector development and employment creation activities by reviewing the legal frameworks. Workshop participants agreed that there is a need for more strategic interaction between donors, governments, and Women Entrepreneurs' Associations and other stakeholders.
Note 1 - Support for Growth-oriented Women Entrepreneurs in Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania, An Overview Report, International Labour Office, Geneva, and African Development Bank, Tunis, 2005, ISBN 92-2-117005-5; for the overview report and country reports (for Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda), please click here.