European Development Day High Level Panel: Women Entrepreneurship to Reshape the Economy Through Innovation In MENA Region

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 Many countries in the MENA region are undergoing deep institutional and social changes. In this context, policies promoting innovation and entrepreneurship are often left behind, and even existing ones usually tend to discriminate women. Women are particularly disadvantaged when trying to access opportunities that promote economic growth.

Between 31 to 38 percent of formal SMEs in the developing world are run by women. Yet, their average growth rates as businesses are significantly lower than those of SMEs led by men. Studies also show that as women scale up their businesses, the wider community benefits more as they reinvest money in their family’s health, nutrition, and education. This points to an enormous opportunity to deliver development results by supporting women entrepreneurs. 

Key objectives

-Agree on policy – action recommendations to address the proposed challenges. Looking at the entrepreneurial ecosystem level regarding design, development and performance of some of the gender-specific innovation and entrepreneurship development, as well as the national development agendas, by bringing innovation (e.g strengthening institutions, developing human research capital and infrastructure) by integrating an inclusive perspective that allows men and women to participate and benefit equally on a macro level.

-Learn on how to address the current challenges women face in the region in the context of the Arab Spring, taking into consideration the Turkish case.      

Key discussion points

1. Lack of women participating fully in the economy, from high female unemployment and therefore low participation in the labor force, to inappropriate environment to promote entrepreneurial initiatives lead/managed by women.

2. Is there a relation between the lack of inclusiveness in the economic models and the lack of innovation in many of the countries in the region?

3. How can a national / regional institutional environment promote entrepreneurial activities through innovation?  What good practices can be identified from the Turkish experience?

4. How does the current political environment add or detract from women participation in the economy?  

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Event format

The HLP will be led by the moderator whom will introduce the panelists and then ask them specific questions according to their area of expertise. Through questions and answers the moderator will be able to link the challenges and opportunities of the current situation in the region, identifying relevant recommendations and opportunities, guiding the interaction between the panelists. This will leave approximately 30 minutes for Q&A and wrap-up the session at the end.

Panellists

-Marcus Cornaro, Deputy Director General, European Commission, Directorate General for Development and Cooperation – EuropeAid, European Commission

-Tara Dawood, Chief Executive Officer, Dawood Capital Management Limited

-Valerie D'Costa, Programme Manager, infoDev - The World Bank Group

-Heidi Hautala, Minister of International Development of Finland

-Guven Sak, Managing Director of the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV)

-Ghada Waly, Managing Director Egyptian Social Fund for Development 

Moderator

John Hendra, Deputy Executive Director, United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women)