In recent years we have seen a plethora of companies invest or reinvest dollars into a sector that is gaining attention in boardrooms across the globe: the economic empowerment of women.
Development experts, including former Secretary Hillary Clinton, Isobel Coleman, Nickolas Kristof, Sheryl Wundunn, and Jeffery Sachs, have been pioneers in connecting women’s economic empowerment to growth trajectories for emerging markets. A recent study from Intel, World Pulse, UN Women, and the U.S. State Department showed that doubling the number of women and girls with access to the web in three years could potentially contribute an estimated $13 to $18 billion to annual GDP across 144 developing countries.
It is also true that economically empowered women are earning, consuming, and controlling purchasing decisions more than ever before. According to the International Finance Corporation’s Women in Business Program, the financial power of women is expanding, much of it in emerging markets. Global consumer spending by women is projected to reach $28 trillion in 2014, a 40 percent increase from 2012. This growth trajectory is encouraging but the reality is that there are many social and economic obstacles to its sustained growth and to ultimately closing the economic gender gap.
The private sector is working to solve some of these obstacles through investment of significant assets, capital, and resources. Generally, you can categorize these investments into the following areas: increasing access to education and business training, providing access to financial capital, and increasing the inclusion of women in the global supply chain.
Increasing Access to Education and Business Training Programs
Many women face barriers to education and high quality business training. In 2008, Goldman Sachs launched 10,000 Women, a five-year, $100 million global initiative to provide 10,000 underserved women entrepreneurs with business and management education, access to mentors, and links to capital. The company has increased capacity of more than 80 on-the-ground organizations to deliver higher quality training programs and access to mentors for women entrepreneurs. Through leveraging their technical expertise, Goldman Sachs has localized business training programs that are critical to women who are looking to enter the formal economy. These investments not only fuel small business growth but increase the sophistication of local market talent.
Providing Access to Capital
The lack of affordable startup capital can be crippling for small business owners, particularly women. Due to lack of collateral, legal barriers, or the requirements of financial institutions, many women are stymied when looking for loans to start their own business.
Recently Citi and the Calvert Fund announced their partnership WIN-WIN: the Women INvesting in Women Initiative. WIN-WIN maximizes the flow of capital to disadvantaged communities in order to create a more equitable and sustainable society. WIN-WIN supports the financial inclusion of women in low-income communities where Citi currently operates.
Access to capital continues to be a big challenge for women entrepreneurs and continued investment in this area is critical to ensure their entrance and sustainability in the formal economy.
Increasing the Inclusion of Women in the Global Supply Chain
The private sector brings an element to women’s economic empowerment that no other sector can, and that is scale. Two great examples of how business unleashes its scale are Walmart and Tupperware.
Walmart’s Women’s Economic Empowerment Initiative includes sourcing $20 billion from women-owned businesses in the United States, doubling sourcing from women suppliers in international markets, and launching a dedicated women-owned product site. Through this initiative, Walmart will bring thousands of new women-run suppliers into their supply chain and help these small businesses meet market demand. The company is working with first-class non-profit partners such as WEConnect, TechnoServe, and Vital Voices.
Finally Tupperware Brands Corporation conducts country market studies to evaluate how their business impacts their local sales force, 99 percent of which are female. The company completed its first market study in Mexico. Tupperware Brands in Mexico generated revenue of almost half a billion dollars in 2011, and have a sales force of more than 700,000. The market findings in Mexico estimated that ninety-nine percent of the sales force reported their financial status improved as a result of joining Tupperware Brands. Forty-eight percent reported greater solvency and 35 percent said they were self-sufficient as a result of selling Tupperware.
The Power of the ♀ Network
Women are networked individuals by nature. We are the critical nexus of our families, communities, and the local economy. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Business Civic Leadership Center’s (BCLC) business community is committed to growing the network of women’s economic empowerment players and catalyzing sectors to work collectively to solve these complex challenges. Every year, on International Women’s Day, BCLC and the United Nations bring together the leaders in this field to share best practices and strengthen the women economic empowerment network (learn more at bclc.uschamber.com/events). Through our local channels, BCLC works with the American Chambers of Commerce to connect businesses, community leaders, nonprofit organizations, and local governments. While the business community continues to grow its investment in women’s economic empowerment, the power of a global network will only enhance our ability to solve these local challenges, close the global economic gender gap, and empower women to change the course of their future for themselves and those to come.
Taryn Bird is Senior Manager at the Business Civic Leadership Center at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
This article was originally published in the Diplomatic Courier's March/April 2013 print edition.
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The Business Network of Women’s Economic Empowerment
March 8, 2013
In recent years we have seen a plethora of companies invest or reinvest dollars into a sector that is gaining attention in boardrooms across the globe: the economic empowerment of women.
Development experts, including former Secretary Hillary Clinton, Isobel Coleman, Nickolas Kristof, Sheryl Wundunn, and Jeffery Sachs, have been pioneers in connecting women’s economic empowerment to growth trajectories for emerging markets. A recent study from Intel, World Pulse, UN Women, and the U.S. State Department showed that doubling the number of women and girls with access to the web in three years could potentially contribute an estimated $13 to $18 billion to annual GDP across 144 developing countries.
It is also true that economically empowered women are earning, consuming, and controlling purchasing decisions more than ever before. According to the International Finance Corporation’s Women in Business Program, the financial power of women is expanding, much of it in emerging markets. Global consumer spending by women is projected to reach $28 trillion in 2014, a 40 percent increase from 2012. This growth trajectory is encouraging but the reality is that there are many social and economic obstacles to its sustained growth and to ultimately closing the economic gender gap.
The private sector is working to solve some of these obstacles through investment of significant assets, capital, and resources. Generally, you can categorize these investments into the following areas: increasing access to education and business training, providing access to financial capital, and increasing the inclusion of women in the global supply chain.
Increasing Access to Education and Business Training Programs
Many women face barriers to education and high quality business training. In 2008, Goldman Sachs launched 10,000 Women, a five-year, $100 million global initiative to provide 10,000 underserved women entrepreneurs with business and management education, access to mentors, and links to capital. The company has increased capacity of more than 80 on-the-ground organizations to deliver higher quality training programs and access to mentors for women entrepreneurs. Through leveraging their technical expertise, Goldman Sachs has localized business training programs that are critical to women who are looking to enter the formal economy. These investments not only fuel small business growth but increase the sophistication of local market talent.
Providing Access to Capital
The lack of affordable startup capital can be crippling for small business owners, particularly women. Due to lack of collateral, legal barriers, or the requirements of financial institutions, many women are stymied when looking for loans to start their own business.
Recently Citi and the Calvert Fund announced their partnership WIN-WIN: the Women INvesting in Women Initiative. WIN-WIN maximizes the flow of capital to disadvantaged communities in order to create a more equitable and sustainable society. WIN-WIN supports the financial inclusion of women in low-income communities where Citi currently operates.
Access to capital continues to be a big challenge for women entrepreneurs and continued investment in this area is critical to ensure their entrance and sustainability in the formal economy.
Increasing the Inclusion of Women in the Global Supply Chain
The private sector brings an element to women’s economic empowerment that no other sector can, and that is scale. Two great examples of how business unleashes its scale are Walmart and Tupperware.
Walmart’s Women’s Economic Empowerment Initiative includes sourcing $20 billion from women-owned businesses in the United States, doubling sourcing from women suppliers in international markets, and launching a dedicated women-owned product site. Through this initiative, Walmart will bring thousands of new women-run suppliers into their supply chain and help these small businesses meet market demand. The company is working with first-class non-profit partners such as WEConnect, TechnoServe, and Vital Voices.
Finally Tupperware Brands Corporation conducts country market studies to evaluate how their business impacts their local sales force, 99 percent of which are female. The company completed its first market study in Mexico. Tupperware Brands in Mexico generated revenue of almost half a billion dollars in 2011, and have a sales force of more than 700,000. The market findings in Mexico estimated that ninety-nine percent of the sales force reported their financial status improved as a result of joining Tupperware Brands. Forty-eight percent reported greater solvency and 35 percent said they were self-sufficient as a result of selling Tupperware.
The Power of the ♀ Network
Women are networked individuals by nature. We are the critical nexus of our families, communities, and the local economy. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce Business Civic Leadership Center’s (BCLC) business community is committed to growing the network of women’s economic empowerment players and catalyzing sectors to work collectively to solve these complex challenges. Every year, on International Women’s Day, BCLC and the United Nations bring together the leaders in this field to share best practices and strengthen the women economic empowerment network (learn more at bclc.uschamber.com/events). Through our local channels, BCLC works with the American Chambers of Commerce to connect businesses, community leaders, nonprofit organizations, and local governments. While the business community continues to grow its investment in women’s economic empowerment, the power of a global network will only enhance our ability to solve these local challenges, close the global economic gender gap, and empower women to change the course of their future for themselves and those to come.
Taryn Bird is Senior Manager at the Business Civic Leadership Center at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
This article was originally published in the Diplomatic Courier's March/April 2013 print edition.
