315 Views
“Gender-Smart Investing for Inclusive Growth in North Africa”
The ECA Office for North Africa and Oxford Economics Africa organized a joint online workshop on “Gender-Smart Investing for Inclusive Growth in North Africa” on Wednesday 7 June. This event was an opportunity for ECA and Oxford Economics Africa to present the preliminary findings of a joint report on the same theme to policy makers, academics, private sector representatives and development partners in North Africa.
The report examines the environment in which entrepreneurship and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in North Africa operate, paying particular attention to the contribution of women in this field. It presents recommendations to governments to foster the emergence of a more favorable environment for female-led businesses and thus put the economies of countries on the path to faster, more inclusive and more resilient growth.
“The report highlights that female entrepreneurship and female-led SMEs tend to create more jobs for women. They are therefore essential to integrating women into the North African labor market and helping to reduce the significant gender disparities in employment in the region,” said Amal Elbeshbishi, Economist at the ECA Office for Africa. North.
“By improving economic opportunities for women, gender-smart investing can also have a positive social, educational and health impact, which in turn promotes sustainable development, job creation and resilience in times of economic crisis,” said Cobus de Hart, Director of Advisory Services at Oxford Economics Africa.
Current employment figures for North Africa show that women make up a significantly lower share of the working-age population compared to the global average (less than 20% of the employed working-age population in North Africa is women, compared to a world average slightly above 40%). This trend has worsened following the Covid-19 pandemic and the recent economic challenges faced by the region.
North Africa can benefit considerably from an increased contribution of women to its economy. According to recent research, SMEs and entrepreneurship are positively linked to faster economic growth and job creation. “Women often bring complementary skills to those of men, so well-targeted policies, strategies and investments in female-led SMEs could also have a positive impact on overall productivity,” said Zuzana Brixiova Schwidrowski. , Director of the ECA Office for North Africa.
North African countries have made significant progress towards adopting comprehensive legislation concerning SMEs. However, many obstacles specific to women entrepreneurs and women entrepreneurs persist in terms of access to information, markets, financial services, land and other assets. Unequal access to ownership of resources such as land in particular hampers women’s access to credit and limits the growth of their businesses. Furthermore, most North African countries still lack policies specifically targeting female entrepreneurship and women-led businesses.
