GatesFoundation | Expanding women’s access to capital @GatesFoundation | Uploaded April 2024 | Updated October 2024, 20 hours ago.
Africa has the highest share of female enterprises in the world at 26%, but women entrepreneurs are more likely to own or work in informal microenterprises. The unpredictable nature of these livelihoods means their income streams are lower and less consistent than for their male counterparts. It also means they are invisible to most formal lenders and can’t secure the capital they need to grow a business, hindering their ability to increase their incomes and create additional jobs in their communities.
If more women had access to capital to open or expanded their own businesses, they would be able to weather economic of personal shocks and build resilience, reducing poverty and driving economic growth. Closing the gender gap in employment and entrepreneurship could raise the global gross domestic product by more than 20 percent.
Learn more: gatesfoundation.org/ideas/womens-economic-power/access-capital
Africa has the highest share of female enterprises in the world at 26%, but women entrepreneurs are more likely to own or work in informal microenterprises. The unpredictable nature of these livelihoods means their income streams are lower and less consistent than for their male counterparts. It also means they are invisible to most formal lenders and can’t secure the capital they need to grow a business, hindering their ability to increase their incomes and create additional jobs in their communities.
If more women had access to capital to open or expanded their own businesses, they would be able to weather economic of personal shocks and build resilience, reducing poverty and driving economic growth. Closing the gender gap in employment and entrepreneurship could raise the global gross domestic product by more than 20 percent.
Learn more: gatesfoundation.org/ideas/womens-economic-power/access-capital
