World Bank Group Managing Director Ngozi Ikonjo-Iweala launches Doing Business Report on Women in Africa

Ngozi Ikonjo 200 wide pixel
Ikonjo-Iweala – Managing Director, World Bank Group

At the WBG Spring Meetings public side event on "Ways to bridge gender gaps" hosted by President Robert Zoellick,Doing Business: Women in Africa was formally launched.

Three dynamic women entrepreneurs from Cameroon, Swaziland and Tanzania, who feature in the report, shared their stories of the legal and regulatory obstacles they have had to overcome.

Link to the book ( http://www.doingbusiness.org/gender/womenentrepreneurs.aspx)


Zoe Dean Smith Gone Rural Swaziland	Kah Walla STRATEGIES! Cameroon	Victoria Kisyombe Sero Lease and Finance Tanzania

"This groundbreaking initiative is a partnership between the Doing Business project and the WBG Gender Action Plan, supported by donors and NGO Vital Voices Global Partnership. It will identify legal and regulatory barriers facing businesswomen in 181 countries and identify possible reforms. This report focusing on seven African countries is the first in a series" said Simeon Djankov, World Bank Group Chief Economist for Financial and Private Sector Development and founder of the Doing Business project.

From left to right:

Kah Walla; Dina Powell (Manager of Goldman Sachs with the $100m outreach program to equip 10,000 women in developing countries with business training); Amanda Ellis (WB GAP, Doing Business gender manager); WBG President Zoellick; Victoria Kisyombe; Zoe Dean-Smith.

Panel Discussion: Leveling the playing field: Promoting women’s entrepreneurship by identifying legal and regulatory barriers and reforms likely to have the biggest benefits for women

German Minister of Development, Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, said, "I am absolutely convinced that the political and economic empowerment of women is not only smart economics but also an essential contribution to the realization of human rights and to enhancing the effectiveness of aid. Imagine where Africa could be if African women were truly enabled to unleash their full potential."