Welcome
to this important panel on Trade, Gender, and Women’s Entrepreneurship
The
word itself and the energy associated with the term “entrepreneurship” can be summed,
in my view, in a number of ways -- linked to drivers such as innovation,
inspiration, and insightfulness (the 3 I’s) in responding to a need in the
economic, business or social sectors for either goods and services or to
address an element of the global human condition today. There are no better
examples of how entrepreneurship can be transformative in one’s life or one’s
community than what women in general, and African women in particular are doing
across the Continent – especially today as they help enhance trade, push for
more entrepreneur- friendly policies, and help advance the economic well-being
of their respective nations.
With
more than half the world’s population women at 50.9%, translating into 143,
368, 343, and with half of Sub-Saharan Africa’s population of 1 billion also women, we see more and more women enlivening
the entrepreneurship space with the 3 I’s I noted above – innovation,
inspiration, and insightfulness – and our 3 panelists today are both
illustrative and emblematic of this. Each panelist will have about 5 minutes
for their formal remarks, then we will move to an interactive session.
We
have with us today (their bio sketches are in your packets):
Ms.
Comfort Aku Adjahoe – Owner of Ele Agbe (I actually met her when I was US rep
to ECOWAS and have tried her great products) – Ele Agbe is a shea butter
company in Ghana. Ms. Au Adjahoe transformed her sea butter shop into a major
trading company.
Ms.
Nigist Haile – an entrepreneurial activist and Founder and Executive Director
of the Center for African Women Economic Empowerment (CAWEE) that helps and
provides capacity building for women entrepreneurs.
Ms.
Winnie Mandosela-Kamalandu – a senior lecturer in the Department of Economic at
the University of Swaziland, and an expert on social-economic issues and
international trade.
Enola
Mafie – Program Manager on West Africa of Vital Voices Partnership where she
provides program and development support for Vital Voices’ economic and SME
development in the US and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Other Definitions of Entrepreneurship, which you might find useful:
Entrepreneurship is the act of being an entrepreneur or "one who undertakes innovations, finance and business acumen in an effort to transform innovations into economic goods". This may result in new organizations or may be part of revitalizing mature organizations in response to a perceived opportunity. The most obvious form of entrepreneurship is that of starting new businesses (referred as Startup Company); however, in recent years, the term has been extended to include social and political forms of entrepreneurial activity. When entrepreneurship is describing activities within a firm or large organization it is referred to as intra-preneurship and may include corporate venturing, when large entities spin-off organizations.[1]
According to Paul Reynolds, entrepreneurship scholar and
creator of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor,
"by the time they reach their retirement years, half of all working men in
the United States probably have a period of self-employment of one or more
years; one in four may have engaged in self-employment for six or more years.
Participating in a new business creation is a common activity among U.S. workers
over the course of their careers." [2] And in recent years has been documented by scholars such
as David Audretsch to be a major driver of economic growth in both the
United States and Western Europe. "As well, entrepreneurship may be
defined as the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently
controlled (Stevenson,1983)." [3] There are a number of other definitions of
entrepreneurship which reflect today’s reality. The Kaufmen Foundation notes
the phenomenon of entrepreneurship as being efforts to advance education and
training efforts, to promote entrepreneurship-friendly policies, [or] to better
facilitate the commercialization of new technologies by entrepreneurs and
others, which have great promise for improving the economic welfare of our
nation[s].
(sources: wikipedi, pulled June 12, 2012; source Kaufmen Foundation pulled, June 12, 2012)
