Empowering women entrepreneurs through ICT

Empowering women entrepreneurs through information and communication technology (ICT) can play a potent role in developing countries' economic development.

UNCTAD has prepared a practical guide aimed at helping policy makers and development practitioners to formulate more effective policies in the area of ICTs and women's entrepreneurship.

Women's small businesses are important contributors to economies, particularly in the informal sector. At the same time, institutional and systemic barriers, and legal gender inequalities and socio-cultural norms and practices, often stymie the potential of women entrepreneurship.

These factors may cause constraints in such areas as women's access to finance, time availability due to multiple roles, physical mobility, and access to education, skills and training. ICTs can help to overcome some of them and there are also business opportunities in the ICT sector itself.

But assessing the status of ICTs and women's entrepreneurship is often difficult due to a lack of data and rapid changes in the ICT landscape.

Through a partnership between UNCTAD and the International Labour Organisation (ILO), and with financial support from the Government of Sweden, this publication systematically integrates - for the first time - the ICT dimension in a framework for assessing women's entrepreneurship development.

It provides a foundation for governments and development practitioners to understand the key factors, challenges and dynamics involved in empowering women entrepreneurs through ICTs, and recommendations for future action.

"There is a need for more effective policies and program to support women entrepreneurs in developing countries so that they can seize the emerging opportunities made possible by ICTs.

There is also the need for greater skills and capacity development for women entrepreneurs," said Director of the Division on Technology and Logistics of UNCTAD, Anne Miroux at the launch of the new study.