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Women Feeding Africa: Innovative Business Solutions to Close the Gender Gap in Agricultural Productivity
Women quite literally feed sub-Saharan Africa: They make up 50% of its agricultural labor force and contribute 60-80% of its food. Yet they also face unique constraints that limit their productivity and reduce their returns. What would happen if women could access the same productivity resources as men? Agnes Makena and Racheal Wangari at Intellecap explore that question, highlighting enterprises and initiatives with innovative solutions to support Africa’s female farmers.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Entrepreneurship
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When Inclusion is Not Inclusive: What Needs to Change to Achieve Meaningful Financial Inclusion for Women
India has achieved impressive growth in women's financial inclusion — recent statistics show that 79% of the country's women are financially included. But according to analysts at MSC, there are troubling questions about whether these women are truly benefiting from their newfound financial access. They discuss why financial inclusion often fails to impact female customers, and how viewing financial services for women through the lens of gender centrality could help.
- Categories
- Finance
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The Rising Gender Gap in Financial Services Threatens Nigeria’s Financial Inclusion Target
A report conducted by the CBN and EFInA finds that differences between men and women in education, income, and trust in financial service providers contribute to the gender gap in financial access.
- Categories
- Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Press Release: More Than 250M Women Worldwide Are Entrepreneurs, According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor Women’s Report from Babson College and Smith College
Approximately 252 million women around the world are entrepreneurs and another 153 million women are operating established businesses, according to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2018/2019 Report on Women's Entrepreneurship.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship
- Tags
- entrepreneurship, gender gap, Women
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A New Program Aims to End Africa’s Financial Gender Gap
Singer Angélique Kidjo is promoting Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa, a program that seeks to boost financing for female entrepreneurs. “Why do banks give more loans to men versus women? That’s the question I have,” she said.
- Categories
- Entrepreneurship, Finance
- Region
- Sub-Saharan Africa
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Empowering Female Entrepreneurs: Solutions to Five Key Barriers to Women’s Financial Inclusion
In developing countries, only 59% of women have a bank account – an issue VisionFund is addressing through its Women’s Empowerment Fund. But though the fund has supported thousands of female-led businesses, it has also faced persistent challenges – many of which are unique to women. Johanna Ryan, VisionFund's Global Director of Impact, discusses five obstacles the fund has encountered, and how they've responded.
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Bringing Digital Financial Inclusion to Women: The Impact of an Integrated Ecosystem Approach
Despite many global initiatives aimed at catalyzing formal banking, almost 1 billion women remain excluded from the financial economy. According to Ankur Seth and Neha Kumar at Intellecap, it's now clear that financial inclusion for women cannot be attained by simply giving them an account or internet access. Instead, it will require an integrated digital financial ecosystem designed for women's needs – an approach Intellecap is piloting in India.
- Categories
- Finance
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Jamaica Wants To Expand Agriculture, But Agribusinesses Are Finding It Impossible to Access Capital
Due to limited access to financial markets and a lack of legally recognized ownership of land, female-led agribusinesses are even more financially vulnerable.
- Categories
- Agriculture, Finance
- Region
- North America
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