Penny Goldberg on why policimakers should champion women entrepreneurs
David Jaume on the importance of research
The Research Conference on Accelerating Growth for Women-led SMEs in developing economies was jointly organized by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), IDB Invest, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi), the School of International Service at American University, and the Institute for Business & Social Impact at UC Berkeley. The conference aimed to promote new research and evidence on gender and entrepreneurship, with a special focus on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), start-ups, and micro-enterprises with growth potential. It also provided a platform for academics, practitioners, and policymakers to network and discuss how to apply research findings to project design and implementation. Academic sessions were accompanied by policy-oriented sessions aimed at strengthening links between research and policy. The conference catalyzed efforts to generate new evidence and determine key objectives and milestones for the future.
| Tuesday, October 29th | |
| 8:30 – 9:00 | Registration and coffee |
| 9:00 – 9:15 | Opening remarks Ana Maria Ibañez (Vice President for Sectors and Knowledge at IDB) Mona Haddad (Global Director for Trade, Investment and Competitiveness at World Bank)Host: Patricia Yañez-Pagans (Principal Economist at IDB Invest) |
| 9:15 – 10:00 | Panel conversation 1: “The role of evidence to guide policies and interventions that support the growth of women-led SMEs” This session will feature a panel composed by high-level practitioners and academics, touching on operational and academic aspects that are or should be at the frontier of our work in this topic.Caridad Araujo (Chief of Gender and Diversity Division at IDB) Rishi Goyal (Deputy Director & Senior Adviser on Gender at IMF) Dana Kupova (Head of Inclusive Finance, Gender and Economic Inclusion) (secondee) at EBRD Paula Pelaez (Director of MSME, Gender, Diversity and Inclusion at IDB Invest) Diego Ubfal (Senior Economist Gender Group at World Bank) Moderator: Wendy Teleki (Head of the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) Secretariat) |
| 10:00 – 10:30 | Coffee Break |
| 10:30 – 12:00 | Session 1: Access to Credit and Skills |
| This session will have two academic papers being presented each followed by an academic discussant. Chair: Claudia Martinez (IDB and Universidad Católica de Chile) |
|
| “Is There a Gender Premium? Financial Frictions and Credit to Female Entrepreneurs” by David Jaume (Banco de México) Discussant: Miriam Bruhn (World Bank) |
|
| “Building Women’s Skills for Economic Inclusion and Resilience” by Megan Lang (World Bank) Discussant: Silvia Prina (Northwestern University) Policy Discussant: Abigayle Davidson (Aspen Institute for Development Entrepreneurship) |
|
| 12:00 – 13:30 | Lunch |
| 13:30 – 14:30 | Session 2: Leveraging data for impact measurement |
| This session will present short presentations from several initiatives that are collecting interesting data on MSMEs and that could be useful for research purposes.
Chair: Felicia Siegrist (We-Fi) |
|
| 14:30 – 15:30 | Keynote address – “Female Entrepreneurship is Good for the Economy” |
| Pinelopi Goldberg (Elihu Professor of Economics and Global Affairs and Professor of Management, Yale University) Moderator: Eric Parrado (Chief Economist of IDB) |
|
| 15:30 – 16:00 | Coffee Break |
| 16:00 – 17:30 | Session 3: Innovative Financing |
| This session will have two academic papers being presented each followed by an academic discussant. Chair: Jennifer Poole (American University) |
|
| “Innovative Financing Using MicroEquity Contracts: Experimental Evidence from India” by Sanghamitra Mukherjee (IMF) Discussant: Diego Ubfal (World Bank) |
|
| “Incentivizing Lending to Women Entrepreneurs: Evidence from Vietnam” by Markus Taussig (Rudgers Business School) Discussant: Agustin Hurtado (University of Maryland) Policy discussant: Ratna Sahay (CGD) |
|
| Wednesday October 30th | |
| 9:30 – 10:00 | Coffee Break |
| 10:00 – 10:15 | Opening of the day and recap from previous day Michelle Brock (Senior Research Economist at EBRD) |
| 10:15 – 11:45 | Session 4: Enabling environment |
| This session will have two academic papers being presented each followed by an academic discussant. Chair: Christopher Woodruff (University of Oxford) |
|
| “Gender Gaps in Time Use and Entrepreneurship” by Faisal Sohail (Senior Lecturer at University of Melbourne) Discussant: Diego Vera (IDB) |
|
| “Sexual harassment and survival rates of women-owned businesses” by Niklas Buehren (World Bank) Discussant: José Tessada (Universidad Católica de Chile) Policy discussant: Christopher Woodruff (University of Oxford) |
|
| 11:45 – 12:00 | Coffee Break |
| 12:00 – 13:00 | Session 5: MDBs work with women-led SMEs through WeFi funds and impact evaluation agendas |
| This session will present ongoing or planned projects from MDBs focused on women-led/owned SMEs to explore possible research or evaluation agendas Sonia Plaza (World Bank) Russell Toth (University of Sidney) Patricia Yañez-Pagans (IDB Invest) |
|
| 13:00 – 14:00 | Lunch |
| 14:00 – 15:30 | Session 6: The Care Economy |
| This session will have two academic papers being presented each followed by an academic discussant. Chair: Luciana Etcheverry (IDB) |
|
| “Self-Employed Mothers: Child Penalties, Maternity Benefits, and Family Health” by Fabrizio Core (Assistant Professor, Erasmus University Rotterdam) Discussant: Samuel Berlinski (IDB) |
|
| “Minding Your Business or Your Child? Motherhood and the Entrepreneurship Gap” by Valentina Rutigliano (Postdoctoral Fellow, University of British Columbia) Discussant: Valentina Duque (American University) Policy discussant: Michelle Adato (Millenium Challenge Corporation) |
|
| 15:30 – 16:00 | Coffee Break |
| 16:00 – 17:00 | Panel Conversation 2: “Working on the ground to support the growth of women-led SMEs” |
| This session will feature a panel composed by strategic public and private sector actors working to support women-led/owned businesses across the globe, touching on how from different angles they are working on some of the topics covered throughout the conference sessions.
Moderator: Alessandro Maffioli (Managing Director Development Effectiveness at IDB Invest) |
|
| 17:00 – 17:30 | Closing remarks Diana Rodriguez (Special Advisor on Gender and Diversity, IDB)Host: Claudia Martínez (Lead Economist at IDB) |
Organizing and Scientific Committee
Michelle J. Brock (EBRD & CEPR)
Luciana Etcheverry (IDB)
Sean Higgins (Northwestern University)
Claudia Martinez (IDB & PUC Chile)
Jennifer Poole (American University)
Farid Tadros (We-Fi)
Miriam Bruhn (World Bank)
Paul Gertler (UC Berkeley)
Jeanne Lafortune (PUC Chile)
Anat Nyshadham (U Michigan)
Silvia Prina (Northwestern University)
Diego Ubfal (World Bank)
Patricia Yañez-Pagans (IDB Invest)
Ralph de Haas (EBRD)
Selim Gulesci (Trinity College Dublin)
Alessandro Maffioli (IDB Invest)
Eric Parrado (IDB)
Felicia Siegrist (We-Fi)
Diego A. Vera-Cossio (IDB)
