WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN POOREST COUNTRIES FACE FORMIDABLE CHALLENGES, INCLUDING LACK OF TRAINING, CREDIT, SAY SPEAKERS AT BRUSSELS FORUM

Third UN Conference on LDCs
19 May 2001





BRUSSELS, 19 May -- Lack of training, education and adequate credit were among the formidable challenges facing women entrepreneurs in the world poorest countries, speakers said today at a forum on women’s entrepreneurship at the Third United Nations Conference on Least Developed Countries.

The forum, which brought together experts from governments, non-governmental organizations and academia, as well representatives of women’s and business associations and women entrepreneurs, examined the impact of recent multilateral trade agreements, women’s relative inability to access technology and obstacles to obtaining credit.

During the discussion on opportunities for women entrepreneurs in the global market, speakers noted that women entrepreneurs in least developed countries (LDCs) faced formidable and pervasive challenges that could make it difficult for them to adapt to the changing opportunities presented by globalization. The multilateral trading systems -- such as the Cotonou partnership agreement with the African, Pacific and Caribbean Group (ACP) and the United States African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) -- were not gender neutral. Rather, they had had a negative impact on women’s lives and the sustainability of their enterprises.

The key was obtaining solid knowledge of those systems and how they related to the international market, as well as the impact they had on local economies, speakers stressed, as was acquiring basic economic and trade literacy. Capacity- building initiatives under both agreements should be designed to respond to the known constraints women faced. There must be a paradigm shift away from the traditional ways of doing business, a speaker stressed. This would help to reduce poverty.

The panellists included: Yolette Azor Charles, Permanent Mission of Haiti to the European Union; Vijay S. Makhan, Deputy Secretary-General, Organization of African Unity (OAU); L. Hendricks, Deputy Minister for Trade of South Africa; and Catherine Mwanamwambwa, Vice-President of the Zambian Association for High value Crops. Koffi Adoboli, former Prime Minister of Togo, chaired the panel.

During a second panel, on women’s access to technology, speakers noted the great advances being made in technology and the range of opportunities offered by them to women entrepreneurs. However, women’s lack of access to technical training, illiteracy and structural difficulties were problems that must be overcome in making that technology available to women. Sharing experiences between women entrepreneurs from different regions of the developing world could help in determining approaches to overcoming the challenges involved.

Among the initiatives described were Bolsa Amazonia, a partnership with Daimler-Chrysler, to improve environmental performance and sustainable development in Brazil; the Reseau des femmes saheliennes, which provided capacity-building for women in Mauritania; and the Association for Support of Women Entrepreneurs of Cameroon. A presentation was also made on support for women’s entrepreneurship in Bosnia and Herzegovina following the conflict there.

Mu Sochua, Minister for Women’s and Veterans’ Affairs of Cambodia, chaired the panel. Participants included Vicky Schreiber of Bolsa Amazonia, Brazil; Yacine M’Bengue, Reseau des femmes saheliennes, Mauritania; and Yvette Stevens, United Nations Special Coordinator for Africa and LDCs.

When the forum took up women entrepreneurs’ access to finance, speakers placed emphasis on the need to overcome the difficulties faced by women-led small and medium-sized businesses and the challenges of moving from the informal to the formal sector. Many women in LDCs had started businesses with their own savings, it was pointed out. The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), one speaker noted, had taken a survey of nine LDCs, which had determined that access to formal credit was a critical obstacle faced by women entrepreneurs. It was exacerbated by a lack of information on where credit could be sought and what was needed for a loan to be granted.

All sectors of society, both national and international, must tackle the problem -- if women entrepreneurs did well, everyone did well, speakers said. Concrete initiatives must be taken. The importance of microcredit for women was highly emphasized, as they were often excluded from other avenues of financing.

Speakers during this segment included Chitra Radhakishun of UNCTAD, and Ndjoro Ndiaye, Deputy Director-General of the International Organization for Migration. Enrique ter Horst, former Ambassador of Venezuela, chaired the panel.

Rubens Ricupero, Secretary-General of UNCTAD, opened the session.

At 10 a.m. tomorrow, the Eighth World Summit on Young Entrepreneurs will conclude.



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