ida Djusupova, a restauranteur in Kyrgyzstan, recently shared this personal reflection with the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE). While she is an individual entrepreneur weathering the COVID-19 pandemic, her experience demonstrates what women entrepreneurs around the world have faced since 2020.
Regardless of the region, business culture, sector, or level of business sophistication, women entrepreneurs noted similar challenges—problems that existed well before the pandemic, but have since been exacerbated. Women entrepreneurs consistently report they need to learn new skills applicable to the changing local conditions, to have opportunities for networking and advocacy, and to secure support from governments to ease financial challenges provoked by lockdowns.
For example, in an area stretching across Turkey, the Middle East, and North Africa, micro and small enterprises (MSMEs) contribute to nearly 60% of GDP and employ nearly 70% of jobs according to a 2020 report published by the Rand Corporation. The majority of women-owned businesses in the region fall within this category and have been heavily impacted by COVID-19 lockdown protocols as they often comprise the sectors hardest hit, including tourism, hospitality, fashion and retail. Despite this challenge, the survey noted that of their respondents, women entrepreneurs were less likely to lay off staff than male entrepreneurs, 21% versus 34% respectively. While all respondents noted additional mitigation efforts such as reducing their own salaries or decreasing profits to avoid business closure, women entrepreneurs more so than their male counterparts felt that digital skills training and web-based marketing skills were of particular importance in terms of support needed for their businesses.
WBAs, such as the Jordanian Forum for Business and Professional Women worked quickly to bridge the gaps women business owners have faced in the pandemic by organizing needs assessments and coordinating public-private dialogue with government officials working on economic stimulus packages to ensure that the voice of women business owners was considered. Early on in the pandemic, the Forum sent a letter to government officials focusing on such issues as reducing the rates or increasing flexibility on payments of business loans, rents, and utilities. They also advocated for increased corporate lending options.
Nisreen Deeb, of the Lebanese League for Women in Business, recently explained why supporting women entrepreneurs during these challenging times is so critical: “Women have huge potential in innovation, leadership, problem solving, and analytical thinking, which allow them to be great entrepreneurs. Empowering women entrepreneurs plays an essential role in economic growth.”
The economic crisis brought on by COVID-19 also put a spotlight on the gender gap in senior leadership within companies. Economic recovery efforts largely revolved around discussions between men as policy makers and men as business leaders. Men still far outnumber women in senior business positions in in Europe, including in Romania. Magdalena Manea, a finance expert from Romania, discussed her thoughts on the path to senior leadership:
To level the playing field, we must first take a good look at who decides things. And that is rarely a woman. If you start to count how many women are in leadership positions, it doesn’t look good, roughly 10% doesn’t look good…If you have a lot of senior level women and at the C-level you count only 11-12%, the imbalance between potential and reality says someone is not choosing from this particular talent pool. And if we keep avoiding this talent pool for the next stage, which will no longer be “command and control,” we will lessen the chances of our society to be fit for the new era.
Simply creating the support for women entrepreneurs isn’t enough. Women must also be informed the support exists and sometimes trained on how to use it. In Papua New Guinea for instance, 97.9% of respondents to its COVID-19 Impact on Women-Owned and -Operated MSMEs surveys stated that they did not access financial support funds and 75.2% of this group noted that they were not aware of the assistance or know how to access it.
Women are ready to work together. Aida from Kyrgyzstan said, “…I had to fight for myself and the people who depend on me: my children, my employees, and their children. I had no choice but to stay strong and resilient to support my women employees and to not let the business (my dream and hope) die. I firmly believe that women empowering each other and working together can achieve big results through good times and bad.”
Throughout the pandemic, governments around the world have pulled together business support packages in coordination with and at the advice of senior business leaders, often even targeting women or minority owned businesses. For example, in the Philippines, WomenBizPH and other WBAs participated in public-private dialogue on critical issues and collaborated with the Department of Trade and Industry to launch women’s help desks. Other WBAs stepped up to provide liaison services, linking members to financial aid programs and online training. Some even developed creative and timely support services, including psycho-social support, for members as the pandemic dragged on.
As the world navigates ongoing pandemic spikes and mitigates the impact to business, policymakers should follow this same path, working with women chambers of commerce, women’s business associations, and women’s professional networks to find ways to support women in business by easing the costs of doing business through access to technology, workshops, networking/mentorship, and assistance with finance and administration needs.
Regardless of the region, business culture, sector, or level of business sophistication, women entrepreneurs report they need to learn new skills applicable to the changing local conditions, to have opportunities for networking and advocacy, and to secure financial support from governments to ease financial challenges provoked by lockdowns. These problems existed well before the pandemic, but COVID-19 has exacerbated them. Private organizations, such as Women’s Business Associations, are leading creative ways to help.
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The Bounce Back: Post-Pandemic Recovery for Women Entrepreneurs
Photo by Bosse Kullengberg via Unsplash.
February 2, 2022
Women-owned small businesses are particularly critical to many of the world's less developed economies - and have proven more resilient than the baseline to the pandemic's challenges. Yet support for these women entrepreneurs lags behind their male counterparts, writes CIPE's Barbara Langley.
A
ida Djusupova, a restauranteur in Kyrgyzstan, recently shared this personal reflection with the Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE). While she is an individual entrepreneur weathering the COVID-19 pandemic, her experience demonstrates what women entrepreneurs around the world have faced since 2020.
Regardless of the region, business culture, sector, or level of business sophistication, women entrepreneurs noted similar challenges—problems that existed well before the pandemic, but have since been exacerbated. Women entrepreneurs consistently report they need to learn new skills applicable to the changing local conditions, to have opportunities for networking and advocacy, and to secure support from governments to ease financial challenges provoked by lockdowns.
For example, in an area stretching across Turkey, the Middle East, and North Africa, micro and small enterprises (MSMEs) contribute to nearly 60% of GDP and employ nearly 70% of jobs according to a 2020 report published by the Rand Corporation. The majority of women-owned businesses in the region fall within this category and have been heavily impacted by COVID-19 lockdown protocols as they often comprise the sectors hardest hit, including tourism, hospitality, fashion and retail. Despite this challenge, the survey noted that of their respondents, women entrepreneurs were less likely to lay off staff than male entrepreneurs, 21% versus 34% respectively. While all respondents noted additional mitigation efforts such as reducing their own salaries or decreasing profits to avoid business closure, women entrepreneurs more so than their male counterparts felt that digital skills training and web-based marketing skills were of particular importance in terms of support needed for their businesses.
WBAs, such as the Jordanian Forum for Business and Professional Women worked quickly to bridge the gaps women business owners have faced in the pandemic by organizing needs assessments and coordinating public-private dialogue with government officials working on economic stimulus packages to ensure that the voice of women business owners was considered. Early on in the pandemic, the Forum sent a letter to government officials focusing on such issues as reducing the rates or increasing flexibility on payments of business loans, rents, and utilities. They also advocated for increased corporate lending options.
Nisreen Deeb, of the Lebanese League for Women in Business, recently explained why supporting women entrepreneurs during these challenging times is so critical: “Women have huge potential in innovation, leadership, problem solving, and analytical thinking, which allow them to be great entrepreneurs. Empowering women entrepreneurs plays an essential role in economic growth.”
The economic crisis brought on by COVID-19 also put a spotlight on the gender gap in senior leadership within companies. Economic recovery efforts largely revolved around discussions between men as policy makers and men as business leaders. Men still far outnumber women in senior business positions in in Europe, including in Romania. Magdalena Manea, a finance expert from Romania, discussed her thoughts on the path to senior leadership:
To level the playing field, we must first take a good look at who decides things. And that is rarely a woman. If you start to count how many women are in leadership positions, it doesn’t look good, roughly 10% doesn’t look good…If you have a lot of senior level women and at the C-level you count only 11-12%, the imbalance between potential and reality says someone is not choosing from this particular talent pool. And if we keep avoiding this talent pool for the next stage, which will no longer be “command and control,” we will lessen the chances of our society to be fit for the new era.
Simply creating the support for women entrepreneurs isn’t enough. Women must also be informed the support exists and sometimes trained on how to use it. In Papua New Guinea for instance, 97.9% of respondents to its COVID-19 Impact on Women-Owned and -Operated MSMEs surveys stated that they did not access financial support funds and 75.2% of this group noted that they were not aware of the assistance or know how to access it.
Women are ready to work together. Aida from Kyrgyzstan said, “…I had to fight for myself and the people who depend on me: my children, my employees, and their children. I had no choice but to stay strong and resilient to support my women employees and to not let the business (my dream and hope) die. I firmly believe that women empowering each other and working together can achieve big results through good times and bad.”
Throughout the pandemic, governments around the world have pulled together business support packages in coordination with and at the advice of senior business leaders, often even targeting women or minority owned businesses. For example, in the Philippines, WomenBizPH and other WBAs participated in public-private dialogue on critical issues and collaborated with the Department of Trade and Industry to launch women’s help desks. Other WBAs stepped up to provide liaison services, linking members to financial aid programs and online training. Some even developed creative and timely support services, including psycho-social support, for members as the pandemic dragged on.
As the world navigates ongoing pandemic spikes and mitigates the impact to business, policymakers should follow this same path, working with women chambers of commerce, women’s business associations, and women’s professional networks to find ways to support women in business by easing the costs of doing business through access to technology, workshops, networking/mentorship, and assistance with finance and administration needs.
Regardless of the region, business culture, sector, or level of business sophistication, women entrepreneurs report they need to learn new skills applicable to the changing local conditions, to have opportunities for networking and advocacy, and to secure financial support from governments to ease financial challenges provoked by lockdowns. These problems existed well before the pandemic, but COVID-19 has exacerbated them. Private organizations, such as Women’s Business Associations, are leading creative ways to help.
