Women entrepreneurs could help enrich the world by $6 trillion

livemint.com:

Every small business owner knows how difficult it can be to access affordable capital. But for many women in the Global South, it’s not just difficult, it’s often impossible. A few years ago in Senegal, I met a woman who decided to do something about that problem.

In 2017, Thiaba Camara Sy left her consultancy job and co-founded WIC Capital, an investment fund for women entrepreneurs in West Africa. Since then, WIC Capital has raised more than $5 million and invested in eight businesses run by women who knocked on far too many closed doors before WIC saw their potential. One of those women, Souadou Fall, co-founded a firm that turns abandoned tires, which would otherwise gather rainwater and breed mosquitoes, into fuel for factories.

Fashion designer Safiétou Seck, who’d struggled to find funding despite an MBA and years of experience, was able to grow her business and now has customers around the world. And Isseu Diop Sakho expanded a business that bakes French pastries from native grains, supporting 20 local suppliers and 75 employees. As inspiring as these stories are, they underscore a big problem: When women entrepreneurs succeed, it’s in spite of the system, not because of it.

Worldwide, there’s a $1.7 trillion gap between the credit women need and what they’re able to get. Estimates suggest that by closing that gap, as much as $6 trillion in global GDP can be unlocked. That’s a net gain for the world that we can’t afford to pass up.