Women entrepreneurship is one way of improving gender equality as it participates in improving women\u2019s economic empowerment. Around the world, it represents a large proportion of women\u2019s paid work and certainly holds strong potential for spurring economic opportunity and job creation (ILO, Women\u2019s Entrepreneurship Development Programme).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet, most studies find that women run smaller businesses than men in terms of sales, assets and number of employees and choose to operate in traditional female-dominated areas, which are less profitable than male-dominated sectors. Women\u2019s businesses are also more often located in their homes as women entrepreneurs often ask for more flexibility, in order to combine child care, family life and business work. Besides, in many developing countries there still exists a gender gap in education – especially at the secondary level – which influences women entrepreneurs\u2019 ability to grow their business (Female Entrepreneurs: How and Why Are They Different? World Bank).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Across the International Movement of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, some National Societies paved the way for entrepreneurship support programs in order to improve the resilience of vulnerable communities – and women entrepreneurs more specifically.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Following a global meeting at 21 – the social innovation accelerator of the French Red Cross – in Paris in January 2020, the Kenya Red Cross Society and the French Red Cross started a dialogue to build a common social entrepreneurship program. Two years later, the Women Social Entrepreneurship Institute <\/a><\/strong>was launched in Mombasa, Kenya, with the support of the French Minister of Foreign Affairs and Europe. The objective: support informal women entrepreneurs transitioning to business leaders in their communities. Through a 8-month incubation program, 25 women entrepreneurs had the opportunity to access a Red Cross \u201csafe innovation lab\u201d located at the centre of Mombasa to reinforce their business competencies via an exhaustive learning approach combining weekly training in hard skills and socio-emotional skills, individual coaching and peer support. At the end of the program, the 25 women entrepreneurs doubled their incomes and reached out to over 300 individuals, primarily women, to share their business insights, mentor local entrepreneurs, and provide training in a diverse range of practical skills, including bakery, cleaning, stitching, and digital competencies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But many other similar initiatives exist in the Mouvement. At the Spanish Red Cross, Impulsa<\/a><\/strong> is a domestic initiative supporting people in a situation of social vulnerability that have skills and interest in starting a business via self-employment. Since its creation, the project has supported more than 16,000 people interested in entrepreneurship and has facilitated the creation and consolidation of more than 1,700 microenterprises. <\/p>\n\n\n\n