Two years ago Mary Kay Cosmetics began its women’s entrepreneurship initiative, partnering with five UN agencies to bring entrepreneurial programs to women entrepreneurs around the world. The partners established the Women’s Entrepreneurship Accelerator (WEA) with the goal of changing the lives of 5 million women around the world by 2030.
Now with the Accelerator passing its two year anniversary Mary Kay and the UN agencies have much to report about their strides in promoting women’s entrepreneurship to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“Today, we’re thrilled to report progress on that promise and demonstrate the unique impact five UN agencies and the private sector can have when working together. These programs represent concrete steps toward the systemic transformation needed to foster an environment of growth, sustainability, and resilience for women entrepreneurs,” said Deborah Gibbins, Chief Operating Officer of Mary Kay Inc.
The programs under the UN initiative for women entrepreneurs were developed in collaboration with these UN agencies: the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Trade Centre (ITC) UN Global Compact (UNGC), UN Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Women and Mary Kay that provided funding and strategic support. Their goals are to support women through economic development initiatives around the world.
On September 28th WEA is holding a virtual event titled “Joining Forces to Drive Change,” that is gathering the senior management of the agencies who will hear from leading experts speaking on topics relating to women and entrepreneurship. They include: gender equality and women’s empowerment, the economic and social contributions of women entrepreneurship; emerging policies and practices that could be applied and replicated globally to support women’s leadership in businesses.
The following are the initiatives being spearheaded by the WEA accelerator and the partner UN agencies that were recently announced to support women entrepreneurs around the world.
- Digital Capacity Building Tools & Training
In collaboration with ITC SheTrades, the Accelerator will provide aspiring women entrepreneurs and business owners with guided curriculum supplemented by on-the-ground training in developing countries that includes Brazil, Colombia, India, and Mexico. Training in 2021 will be virtual.
The free online Entrepreneurship curriculum teaches women entrepreneurs the skills to design and set up businesses that have potential to be economically viable. Interactive modules cover seven key stages of business development that includes over 200 videos. The extensive training includes “how to adopt an entrepreneurship culture, develop ideas through design thinking and lean start-up methodologies, prepare a business model canvas, design a pitch, identify sources of funding, find the right partners, arrange for mentorship, build a team, and set up their businesses”.
The curriculum will be released beginning in October and December 2021 in English, Spanish, and French, with Arabic, Russian and Mandarin coming in 2022.
- Entrepreneurship Research
WEA’s objectives for 2020-2021 is for the ILO to focus on strengthening advocacy for women’s entrepreneurship development in Mexico and Brazil.
In Mexico, the findings from an assessment on framework conditions that impact women’s entrepreneurship development will be released that is specific to trade and industry and includes the impact of COVID-19. It lays out actionable recommendations to foster a more conducive environment for women entrepreneurs. It was developed in close collaboration with national partners such as employers’ associations, chambers of commerce and associations of women entrepreneurs to ensure national ownership and sustainability.
In Brazil the WEA, ILO is collaborating with SENAI, a national leader in technical and vocational training, to advocate for women’s entrepreneurship development with the goal of promoting dialogue based on the findings of a WED Assessment. Activities such as national and regional conferences, seminars, and trainings are planned to keep momentum going for women’s entrepreneurship development.
- Gender-Responsive Procurement (GRP) Advocacy and Training
As defined by the UN, Gender-responsive procurement (GRP) is “the selection of services, goods and civil works that considers their impact on gender equality and women’s empowerment.
The WEA initiatives seek to overcome gaps in the procurement processes and programs that exist for women in business. They identified that “globally, one in three small, medium, and large businesses are owned by women, yet women win only 1% of the procurement spend of large corporations and governments”.
Closing this gap is seen as a transformational impact on domestic and international economies, while furthering women’s economic empowerment. The WEA participated in the Generation Equality Forum in Paris held this past summer through the “Drivers of Change” Programming. They hosted a panel titled “Building a Transformative Strategy for Gender-Responsive Procurement,” with the goal of creating awareness of the complex and interconnected barriers that female entrepreneurs face and to promote GRP.
UN Women primarily contributes to the Accelerator’s GRP line of work in 2021 by its establishment of the Business Case for GRP through the launch of a community of practice (CoP) that was done in July in collaboration with UN Global Compact to engage private industry stakeholders.
UN Women, with the support of the UN Global Compact, is also conducting a global survey across sectors on GRP. The organization will interview more than 50 companies and organizations. The survey responses will result in case studies and an evidence-based advocacy tool to highlight the business case of GRP.
UN Women Europe and Central Asia (ECA) will launch an inaugural Pilot program to increase the capacities of both women entrepreneurs and the private sector with an aim to boost women’s entrepreneurship.
These initiatives seek to fulfill the Accelerator’s commitment made at the Generation Equality Forum in Paris that has the goal of empowering 5 million women by the end of 2030. They also seek to achieve an ecosystem that supports women’s economic empowerment that will lead to growth, sustainability, and financial security.
