The journey of the female entrepreneur is a hot topic in the market

Services and initiatives aimed at female entrepreneurs are gaining strength and are a hot topic in the entrepreneurial ecosystem

The particularities of female entrepreneurship have been increasingly discussed and have become the center of products, services and programs that generate solutions to the challenges faced by businesswomen in Brazil and around the world. The particularities of female entrepreneurship have been increasingly discussed and have become the center of products, services and programs that generate solutions to the challenges faced by businesswomen in Brazil and around the world. Following we have a couple examples on how it have been woking in practice.

With a focus on including women in the entrepreneurial environment, in 2022 the brazilain organization Rede Mulher Empreendedora, in partnership with the Amazon Partner Sellers Store, launched the business acceleration program called Decola Garota. Another edition will be held in 2024, which selected 30 entrepreneurs with businesses focused on selling non-perishable physical products.

Also in 2022, the TodasConectadas brazilian platform was launched, a partnership between UN Women, Microsoft, Mastercard and other companies and institutions. It focuses on offering digital literacy to women in Latin America and the Caribbean to enhance their job opportunities and their businesses.

The brazilian fund foundation Dona de Mim was created in 2020 by the Grupo Mulheres do Brasil, and its founders include Sônia Hess and Luiza Helena Trajano. It was created to address the difficulties faced by microentrepreneurs in accessing credit. Today, the fund is supported by the Social Microcredit of Banco BTG Pactual and Sigma Lithium Corp., a multinational company that produces 100% sustainable Green Lithium in Minas Gerais.

In 2006, Cartier, a luxury goods brand, launched the Cartier Women’s Initiative, a program aimed at businesses with social and environmental impacts that are led or founded by women. The winners of the prize are awarded not only a cash prize, but also mentoring and business leadership courses. In the 2024 edition, Brazilian Isabela Chusid, founder of the vegan sandal brand Linus, came in second place in the Latin America and Caribbean category. The first place winner in this category was Peruvian Marlene Molero Suàrez, who founded Elsa by Gender Lab, which offers a data analysis tool to help companies prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.

These are examples of the types of initiatives that are increasingly gaining momentum worldwide. It is worth noting that they point to the trend of companies investing in issues related to women even though this is not the core of their business, as is the case with Amazon and Sigma.

Reaffirming the importance of the topic, the W20, one of the engagement groups under the G20, will address five issues, including female entrepreneurship and other cross-cutting issues, such as women in STEM, combating violence against women, the care economy and climate justice.

The points raised above speak of challenges, but they also speak of opportunities to generate positive changes in the reality of women entrepreneurs. Good ways to identify initiatives that can generate a positive impact on this reality are to seek to map in depth the profile and main challenges faced by female entrepreneurs in Brazil and around the world. In this task, reports such as those from the Instituto Rede Mulheres, The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and the Women and Money project by Ideo (funded by the Melinda and Bill Gates Foundation) can be of great help.

I conclude this analysis with recommendations made by Ana Fontes and Débora Monteiro in their article entitled Female entrepreneurs transform society. They recommend ways to strengthen women's businesses in Brazil, including the following: Facilitate access to different types of capital; Offer more opportunities for access to innovation; Encourage the digitalization of businesses; Enable greater access to markets; Promote education and training; Ensure that women's rights are guaranteed.

Shall we chat?

Take the quiz below and tell us in the comments what you think of this trend and how you and/or your organization have positioned themselves in relation to the dynamics and topics raised above.

We would love to hear from you.

See you soon!

How much this trend impacts your reality?

• A lot
• Not sure yet
• Few impact