Women Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is the consummation of human energy, effort, and achievement. Entrepreneurship is often interwoven with Entrepreneurship is the consummation of human energy, effort, and achievement. Entrepreneurship is often interwoven with innovation, risk-taking, persistence, and the ability to convince and gain the support of others.

Many women, all around the world, work hard, long hours, and commonly with less reward for the same job than men. While entrepreneurial, fewer women than men engage in formal entrepreneurship – in starting up a company and make it work. Yet, this is changing. More women do pursue entrepreneurship, and many succeed.

Entrepreneurship is close to the core of IKED’s mission. The virtues and values entrepreneurship can generate merit appreciation, respect, and facilitation where possible. Through its entire journey, the organisation, and its representatives, have championed and attempted to contribute to this cause, through many different agendas and outlets

In 2003, IKED was responsible for organizing the panel addressing women entrepreneurship at the World Knowledge Partnership conference, organised by the World Bank in Kuala Lumpor, Malaysia. A resulting Handbook has served as a guidance for policy practioners and for guiding reform in this area.

IKED has played a strong role in supporting women incubators and accelerators in particular innovative service industry. During 2018-2020, drawing on funding from the Qatar Research Fund, IKED collaborated with international partners, at TU-Delft and Bradford University, in a program aimed at cross-fertilisation in global activities advancing training and mentorship for women entrepreneurs.

Various studies indicate that women entrepreneurs tend to apply a more long-term view, and are more likely to support climate action and sustainability, compared to their male counterparts. There is a need of improved data collection and analysis, however, along with advocacy, and capacity building among key stakeholder categories, including in finance and access to international markets. IKED representatives continue to engage actively across this spectrum of issues, linking with the efforts of others at networking events and initiatives arranged by the Global Forum, Women in WEF, UN Women, as well as by local communities around the world.

In the 1990s, founders of IKED were responsible for the world’s first ministerial conference for women entrepreneurship, and also a second follow-up conference in 2000, under the aegis of the OECD. From there on, IKED has been steadily represented on the OECD Task Force on Fostering Women Entrepreneurship in the MENA Region. Following the Ministerial meeting in Cairo, Egypt, 2007 the Task Force was transformed into the OECD MENA Women Business Forum, whose activities are still ongoing.