WEConnect finds gender equality critical for economic growth

A McKinsey Global Institute study found that advancing women’s equality could add $12 trillion to the global economy by 2025. This impact is roughly equivalent to the size of the combined Chinese and US economies today, says the report. And it could be realised by ensuring greater equality and opportunities for women. Do you think governments across the world are doing enough to create policies to advance women’s participation in economy?

Many governments have made progress on gender equality in the last five years, including commitments to support the UN Sustainable Development Goal Five on gender equality. To ensure success, governments need to do a lot more by updating their gender equality strategies and national budgets to better support women as business owners. Women business owners are uniquely positioned to deliver innovative solutions, create new quality jobs, grow the national budget and reinvest their wealth back into their families and communities.

Increasingly, WEConnect International is helping governments with their inclusive sourcing strategies based on the lessons of the private sector. Governments collect taxes from all of their citizens, but rarely do they spend that revenue on women business owners capable of delivering competitive solutions. The lack of women contractors is a clear market failure that governments must address, if they want to use public procurement as the powerful tool it is for anticipating and serving the needs of all citizens.

The pandemic has disproportionately impacted women, pushing many out of the workforce. How do you see the future of women professionals in this context?

Although in medical terms, Covid-19 hits men harder than women, it is clear women are bearing the brunt of the social and economic disruption and are leaving the work force in high numbers. Bloomberg reports that the majority of service industry workers are female, and their jobs put them on the front lines of the outbreak, while at home, women still do more caretaking. There is evidence these challenges are disproportionately impacting the women who own about one third of all privately-owned businesses globally. To understand their challenges and ability to adapt and build resiliency during a global pandemic, WEConnect International has actively surveyed a wide range of women business owners about the scope and nature of the business impacts Covid-19 is having on them and their companies. 

The survey results are helping to inform the design of corporate responses, government policies and multilateral interventions required for effective support. More than 80 per cent of the women-owned businesses in India have reported being negatively impacted by the middle of 2020, and most had experienced a reduction in revenue and some had excess inventory and cancelled orders. While the pandemic has resulted in far too many women having to close their businesses, the majority in the WEConnect International network have found ways to be resilient against all odds.

For example, ACPL Systems, PM Relocations and Meridian Market Resources continue to find ways to respond to the impacts of the pandemic in the IT, logistics and manufacturing sectors. The strategies women have employed to keep their doors open and their people employed are heroic and documented on the WEConnect International website, available for the world to study and replicate. The other heroes are the large buyers in India, such as Accenture, IBM, Cisco and Unilever, to name a few, which have recently increased their commitment to gender inclusive sourcing as a key pillar of their commitment to equality.

 How are you addressing the issue of inequalities that are so prevalent in business?

WEConnect International continues to grow our network of member buyers and connect them with more than 11,000 women-owned suppliers around the world, with a goal of providing more opportunities for the women to sell their products and services. The issue of inequalities in business is real, and it is keeping all of us from having full access to innovative solutions to our problems. It is in everyone’s interest that both men and women have an equal opportunity to compete for our business.

Many more women should be encouraged to bring their ideas to market, so that we can do business better together – better on quality, better for the planet and better for an increasingly diverse community of global citizens, hungry for the solutions women can deliver, if given an equal opportunity. WEConnect International was created to address a massive market failure defined by talented women business owners unable to access markets in the way men access markets.

Companies founded by women hardly get the investment they deserve. How are you helping women entrepreneurs to get equal access to capital funding?

When women are better able to sell their products and services, they are far more attractive to banks and investors seeking a return on their capital funding. In addition to bank loans, women who own businesses want access to sources of organic growth – income, which does not need to be paid back with interest. They want contracts to fill orders, deliver goods and grow their businesses.  While it is true that women business owners in India receive a small fraction of the bank loans and venture investments available to men business owners, women also receive less than 1 per cent of the total money spent on products and services by large buyers in India.

Women in India are invisible in value chains and need specific support to shine a light on their ability to deliver solutions, if given an equal opportunity to compete. It is urgent we all work together to leverage our purchasing power with businesses owned by all genders in India and this is why the work of WEConnect International is so critical, because we make it easier for supply and demand to connect inside and outside of India. 

Why is tackling gender inequality critical for economic growth? 

Because of the size of its population, few countries are poised to benefit from equality as much as India, where only 25 per cent of the labour force is female. Even more alarming, their contribution to domestic GDP is only 17 per cent – less than half the global average. According to the World Bank, doubling the percentage of women in the workforce would boost India’s growth rate from 7.5 per cent to 9 per cent and raise the country’s GDP to $700 billion by 2025. Tackling gender inequality is critical for economic growth, because inclusive growth helps to ensure all citizens contribute to and benefit from prosperity.

Women around the world spend more of their income on their families and communities relative to men, and this is critical to help ensure boys and girls have equal access to nutrition, security, education and economic opportunity. We all need more women to have an equal opportunity to reach their full potential as employers and employees and as leaders in their communities with the assets required to make system changes quickly. 

For example, Nectar Fresh, a growing women-owned business in Karnataka state manufacturing raw honey, coffee and local fruits for jams, has been successful replacing international brands in global retailers.

How is WEConnect International helping women entrepreneurs in India?

WEConnect International in India works with local partners to identify, educate, register and certify women’s business enterprises, which are at least 51 per cent owned, managed and controlled by one woman or more. WEConnect International is committed to connecting Indian women-owned businesses with large buyers seeking women suppliers to diversify their value chains and maximize their sourcing options.

Are you planning to engage with India’s industry associations to accelerate the demand for creating an enabling environment for women entrepreneurs?

WEConnect International values the role of local industry associations, and India happens to have some of the most powerful industry associations in the world. We are deeply committed to adding value to the work of local organisations and to avoiding inefficient duplications of effort. WEConnect International partners with local associations of women business owners and other leading organisations, such as the Confederation of Indian Industry, because of the power of partnerships that help to create the enabling environment required for women business owners to succeed.

What are the determinants of WEConnect International’s growth in India and South Asia region?  

As in all markets, WEConnect International serves, our growth in India and South Asia is determined by local demand from buyers and women suppliers. The growing demand for manufacturing and information technology solutions, for example, from women suppliers helps the women grow their companies, deliver innovation, create jobs and connect to global markets.

Policy makers, corporations, multilateral institutions and women business owners themselves all agree that now, more than ever, we need more women to start and grow businesses as a sustainable engine for inclusive growth and prosperity in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and the Maldives. WEConnect International is actively supporting initiatives in this region based on the growing demand from buyers, women suppliers and funders, who believe equal opportunity to access markets has a significant impact on local economies.