"Investigating what characterizes women’s entrepreneurship and what type of enterprise development support they need sheds light on the importance of understanding what drives exclusion and inclusion in social, political and economic processes in societies. This paper aims to contribute to the debate by discussing the importance and practicalities of gender-aware WED. Gender-aware WED recognizes the gendered risks and uncertainties in which women operate their businesses and assists women in coping with these insecurities at home, in the community and in the business environment. In addition, it strives to create a level playing field by ensuring access to, and control over, resources and opportunities for all entrepreneurs, regardless of business type, industry choice, gender, age, health status, location or ethnicity."

"Small and medium-sized enterprises make up a large part of Sri Lanka's economy, with over one million SMEs accounting for approximately 75 percent of all businesses. These are found in all sectors of the economy and are estimated to contribute about 45 percent of total employment in Sri Lanka. Women's ownership of formal small and medium-sized enterprises is low, at around 25 percent of all SMEs, and most women business-owners struggle to transition away from informal micro-scale businesses, in part due to limited access to finance and lower business capacity of women entrepreneurs. This report presents a snapshot of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) across Sri Lanka, with a focus on the different impacts experienced by women-owned and managed businesses (WSME), as compared to those owned by men (MSME) and those owned jointly by a woman and a man (JSME)."

"Low female labor market participation is a problem many developed countries have to face. Beside activating inactive women, one possible solution is to support the re-integration of unemployed women. Due to female-specific labor market constraints (preferences for flexible working hours, discrimination), this is a difficult task, and the question arises whether active labor market policies (ALMP) are an appropriate tool to help. It has been shown that the effectiveness of traditional ALMPs – which focus on the integration in dependent (potentially inflexible) employment-is positive but limited. Starting their own business might give women more independence and flexibility to reconcile work and family and increase labor market participation. Based on long-term informative data, we find that start-up programs persistently integrate former unemployed women into the labor market, and the impact on fertility is less detrimental than for traditional ALMP programs."

"After hearing of the success of Fundación Chile, the governor of the Mexican state of Jalisco sought to recreate the foundation locally. The result is Fundación Jalisco, which seeks to import successful business models to small farmers in Jalisco. For its first project, the Fundación imported high-yield blueberry plants from the United States, started a nursery, and gave the plants to local farmers who were capable of growing them successfully. The farmers deliver their berry harvest to the foundation, which packages and sells it throughout Mexico and overseas in the United States and the United Kingdom. The venture has been highly profitable for all concerned, and the foundation is now seeking to diversify into value-added products such as olive oil and cheese. The foundation relies on a combination of state funding and private investment."

"This paper analyzes the kind of knowledge that facilitates hatching and leveraging of technologies through the incubation process. Four corporate incubator types can be distinguished according to their source and type of technology: fast-profit incubators, market incubators, leveraging incubators, and in-sourcing incubators. Applying the knowledge-based view of the firm, four modes of mainly tacit knowledge were identified in respect to the different incubator types: (1) entrepreneurial knowledge, (2) organizational knowledge, (3) technological knowledge, and (4) complementary market knowledge. Knowledge strategies include both the leveraging of internal knowledge as well as the in-sourcing of external knowledge for the firm through the corporate incubator. The research is based on an analysis of a European Commission dataset from a benchmarking survey of 77 incubators as well as 52 interviews in 25 large technology-driven corporations in Europe and the United States."

"The global drive to provide universal access to sustainable and modern energy by 2030 is creating numerous opportunities for energy users and suppliers. However, men and women do not benefit equally from these opportunities. As users, they have different energy needs linked to their different gender roles. Gender blindness in the sector has led to women's needs often being ignored. As suppliers, the energy sector has traditionally been male dominated. Despite stark gender differences in the energy sector, there has been a lack of evidence to inform more equitable policymaking. This issue of the IDS Bulletin aims to fill some of these evidence gaps through five original papers, part of ENERGIA's Gender and Energy Research Programme. The issue pays particular attention to women's involvement in the supply chain as energy entrepreneurs, an emerging area of research in the gender and energy space."

"This issue brief, part of a series published by ANDE in 2019, is designed to create a common knowledge base from which the Small and Growing Business (SGB) sector can work in the hopes of advancing towards selected development goals.  Based off the assertion that leaving behind half of the world's population would make achieving the SDGs impossible, current literature and sector experience suggest that the SGB sector can contribute to SDG 5 through three categories of action: Promoting investments and support services for women-led SGBs, improving gender-inclusive employment policies, and scaling gender-focused business models through SGBs."

"We have therefore launched a study on this subject that combines quantitative analyses and qualitative comments of our entrepreneurial companies and partners, their employees, and our investment teams. This research has allowed us to capitalize on our knowledge and to provide an overall picture of what the path to formalization looks like. We do hope, of course, that this study will inspire African governments, development agencies and scholars. But the most valuable part of this work relates to what is very rarely analyzed and even less frequently shared: the practical challenges companies face as they progress towards formalization. Our business gives us access to unique knowledge and insights which are essential to understanding how companies and their employees view public policies, as well as best practices for leading a business towards successful formalization. This study will therefore be of interest to entrepreneurs engaging in the formalization process, as well as to private and public investors who face the challenges of exiting the informal sector."

"Entrepreneurs play a critical role in cities and nations as they create new jobs, generate economic growth, and spread the
development of new innovations. When local entrepreneurship communities are productive, their cities and regions are more
likely to thrive, but when entrepreneurship communities struggle, cities and regions can become trapped in decline.The following pages will share five critical lessons on entrepreneurship communities and productivity. They will also offer practical recommendations that decision makers can use to implement Entrepreneur-Led Economic Development in cities across the world."

"This report proposes actions that can be taken by ASEAN Governments and key stakeholders to address the constraints facing women entrepreneurs. Two key levers for change are highlighted. These are greater access to and use of innovative technologies, especially those made available through the ICT revolution; and creative approaches to making finance and credit available to women entrepreneurs. As well as being critical in their own right, these two levers also contribute to unlocking progress in other key areas, such as education and training, access to business support and networks and opening market opportunities."