Women Entrepreneurs in COVID-19 Response and Recovery

Finally! The *UN WE Empower Advocacy Tool provides a roadmap to inform gender-smart small business policies and programming.

The advocacy tool does so by encapsulating how private, public and other stakeholders can collectively support entrepreneurs, business owners, self-employed and sole proprietors who identify as women, particularly those with intersectional identities. In a focused way, it bridges policy briefs and feminist recovery plans with practical insights. Congratulations UN WE Empower Advocacy Tool authors and champions *Stephane Dei and *Nancy Mitchell. Thanks also to all who contributed to the café and conference, events that informed the advocacy tool recommendations.

The message is clear. Just as structural inequalities have been amplified by the pandemic, inclusive recovery measures can provide for economic opportumities. In July, for example, the *Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) reported on the state of small business relief policies across 60 countries. Few policies address gendered impacts of the pandemic. In August 2020, McKinsey Global Institute reported on the cost of not doing so. Taking no actions to counter the gender effects of the pandemic is expected to dilute $1 trillion in global GDP. Conversely, ‘taking immediate action' to advance gender equality is estimated to contribute $13 trillion to global GDP by 2030. Immediate actions include the recommendations advanced in the UN WE Empower Advocacy Tool. 

Recommendations focus on:

.       Creating enabling environments through policies and regulations 

·       Enhancing access to information, skills and knowledge

·       Bolstering access to markets, including through public procurement

·       Increasing access to finance, and 

·       Opening industry and investment networks.

The necessary foundation of change lies in reforms to entrepreneurship education and training. This priority is not just because I am an educator and researcher. There is mounting evidence about the need for reform. In 2019 *Global Entrepreneurship Monitor asked national experts in 54 economies to assess the environment for entrepreneurship based on 12 conditions, conditions such as those described in the advocacy tool. Entrepreneurship education was universally ranked as the weakest condition. *Telfer School of Management and studies by the *International Financing Corporation (World Bank Group) and *Aspen Network of Development Entrepreneurs find that women face systemic barriers in accessing small business and innovation support services, including accelerators and incubators. These are the services to which entrepreneurs now turn for information about weathering the pandemic. The UN WE Empower Advocacy Tool presents concrete ideas to improve information, skills and knowledge.  

• We need gender-smart content and curricula to enhance financial literacy, confidence, and capacity. *Scotiabank Women Initiative and *Telfer School of Management *research document, for example, that women entrepreneurs self-rate as having less financial small business-related knowledge and confidence compared to men. Objective tests to gauge financial knowledge suggest such perceptions are merited. The advocacy tool recommends new pathways that streamline access to capital and education for start-ups and scale-ups. 
• The transition to online delivery of training threatens to reinforce stereotypes inherent in off-the-shelf digital content. We need women-identified role models and stories of women entrepreneurs to inspire others. This includes case studies about how entrepreneurs who are pivoting one-on-one service interactions to digital enterprises. We need gender-smart digital boot camps.
• The advocacy tool calls for consortia comprised of private, public and civil society that leverage research-based insights to mobilize the strategies advanced.  

These recommendations are not wishful. Emergent good practices, such as *women-focused capital funds and capital boot camps, are driving change. One such initiative is Invest Ottawa Womxn Founders, Business-owners & Entrepreneurs. To learn about Invest Ottawa SheBoot, a women-focused training and investment program, join us on September 17th at 2:30 – 4:00 p.m. EDT.

Register for the Invest Ottawa online event: https://bit.ly/359eVRC

Learn from community leaders and role models who will share insights about strategies to meet the needs of diverse women entrepreneurs, including *Sonya Shorey * Julia Elvidge ICD.D * Jennifer Francis * Shavonne Hasfal-McIntosh * Cassie Myers (She/Her) * Nick Quain * Susan Richards, FCPA, FCMA, * and Michael Tremblay.

Download Gender-Smart Entrepreneurship Education & Training Plus (GEET+): https://bit.ly/2ZbGdD9

Download more Telfer studies: https://sites.telfer.uottawa.ca/were/