Thursday, February 19, 2026
9:00am – 10:00am EST
Description: Women entrepreneurs are leveraging their knowledge and experience to drive innovation in the care economy by developing solutions that meet evolving care needs. Expanding affordable, quality care services can unlock economic growth, create jobs, and enable more women to pursue careers and entrepreneurship. The lack of accessible care options disproportionately impacts women, limiting business growth and workforce participation, with the pandemic underscoring these challenges through massive income losses. Despite their potential, women entrepreneurs in the care sector face significant barriers in accessing capital and resources, as the sector’s growth opportunities are often overlooked. Addressing these challenges can not only empower women-led businesses but also strengthen the broader economy.
Objective: The objective of this webinar is to showcase examples of innovative care solutions and discuss practical approaches for expanding the care economy through women’s entrepreneurship by bringing together care entrepreneurs, development practitioners, policymakers, and funders. The speakers will explore financial and non-financial needs of WSMEs in the care economy, and types of regulatory interventions that support better care systems. The webinar will also discuss strategies to expand investment, support programs, and policy reforms, with a focus on funding models, effective program design, and partnerships to drive sustainable growth in the sector. The webinar will also share insights from a recent policy note developed by We-Fi and Women, Business and the Law, which explores how unpaid care responsibilities influence women’s entrepreneurial decisions and business growth.
9:00 – 9:02 Welcoming Remarks by We-Fi
- Wendy Teleki, Head of the We-Fi Secretariat
9:02 – 9:07 Opening Remarks
- Takaaki Nomoto, Director, Multilateral Development Banks Division, Ministry of Finance, Japan
9:07 – 9:15 Insights from We-Fi/WBL Care Policy Note
- Daniela Behr, Economist, Women, Business and the Law
9:15 – 9:50 Panel discussion
- Amanda Devercelli, Invest in Childcare Team Lead, World Bank
- Amélie Duval, Technical Officer, Women’s Entrepreneurship Development Programme, ILO
- Santoshi Rana, Co-Founder, Bihani
- Tyler Tappendorf, Financial and Digital Services Lead, Women’s Entrepreneurship, CARE
9:50 – 10:00 Q&A
Takaaki Nomoto, Director, Multilateral Development Banks Division, Ministry of Finance, Japan
Takaaki Nomoto is the Director of the Multilateral Development Banks (MDB) Division at Japan’s Ministry of Finance (MoF), overseeing Japan’s involvement with institutions like the World Bank & African Development Bank, leveraging his extensive experience from roles at the Africa Development Bank (as Executive Director) and the Asia Development Bank.
Daniela Behr, Economist, Women, Business and the Law, Global Indicators Group, Development Economics, DEC
Daniela Behr is an Economist at the Women, Business and the Law Project. She currently leads the team’s research efforts on women’s legal capacity regarding freedom of movement, property rights, and entrepreneurship. Daniela has worked in various capacities at the World Bank Group since 2018 co-leading a research project on affordable housing, conducting impact assessments of IFC’s investments in financial institutions, and working on indicator development related to agribusiness regulations. Prior to joining the World Bank Group, Daniela was a research fellow at University of Konstanz and George Washington University and a human rights and gender specialist with the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Daniela studied in Konstanz, Madrid, and Toronto and holds a PhD in political economy from the University of Konstanz.
Amanda Devercelli, Invest in Childcare Team Lead, World Bank
Amanda E. Devercelli is the Global Lead for Early Childhood Development (ECD) at the World Bank. She works across the institution to expand and improve investments in ECD, ensure delivery of high-quality operational and analytical work and build capacity of Bank staff and clients. In 2012, she launched the Bank’s Early Learning Partnership, a $100 million multi-donor fund that has generated more than $2 billion in funding to scale -up high-quality ECD services worldwide. Amanda leads operational and analytical work in Kenya, Somalia, Senegal and South Africa currently and has previously worked in Uzbekistan, Pakistan and India. She created the World Bank’s Early Years Fellowship in 2017 to build future leaders in the field of early childhood. She was the lead author for the World Bank’s white paper on childcare Better Jobs and Brighter Futures: Investing in Childcare to Build Human Capital and is leading a major expansion of childcare work across the institution. Amanda co-led the development of the Bank’s Systems Approach for Better Education Results-Early Childhood Development (SABER-ECD). She has published on a range of topics including childcare, measuring early childhood outcomes, engaging with the nonstate sector and systems approaches to early childhood. Prior to joining the World Bank, Amanda worked with community-based schools and international civil society organizations. She has a master’s degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Education and was awarded the Reynolds Fellowship for Social Enterprise from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Amélie Duval, Technical Officer, Women’s Entrepreneurship Development Programme, ILO
Amélie is a Technical Officer in the International Labour Organization’s Enterprises Department, where she works with the Women’s Entrepreneurship Development programme. She leads the programme’s work on advancing women’s entrepreneurship in the care economy, providing technical support to field teams and contributing to the development of an institutional approach at the intersection of care, gender equality, and enterprise development.
Since joining the ILO, she has supported research, policy advice, and capacity-building work on gender equality in the world of work, domestic work, informality, and responsible business conduct. Prior to the ILO, she worked with grassroots organizations promoting women’s economic empowerment in Africa and Europe. She holds a Master’s degree in Development Geography from Université Paris IV–Sorbonne and an MPhil in Gender Studies from the University of Cambridge.
Santoshi Rana, Co-Founder of Bihani
Santoshi Rana is the Founder of Bihani Social Venture, Nepal’s first social enterprise working in the field of Ageing. She is also involved as a guest faculty in Kathmandu University School of Arts teaching ‘Caring for Elderly’ as part of Bachelor’s in Community Development Course.
Santoshi has been part of Nepal’s ageing, caregiving and social enterprise ecosystem for more than a decade. She has also been a trainer mentor, panellist and speaker in various national and international platforms related to ageing related issues, entrepreneurship, social entrepreneurship, youth/ elder and women empowerment.
Before starting Bihani, Santoshi worked in the Corporate Sector for almost a decade working with the best brands. After completing her Bachelor’s in English Literature from Lady Shri Ram College, New Delhi, India, she worked with companies such as GE Capital and American Express in the field of customer service and training. She also has a Master’s in Media and Communication Management from Middlesex University, London, UK. While in London, Santoshi volunteered with the Haemophilia Society (the only UK-wide charity for all those affected by a genetic bleeding disorder), worked as a street campaigner for OXFAM’s “I am In” campaign to end poverty along with, being part of CISION UK (one of the leading providers of software, services, and tools to the public relations and marketing communications industry) as a Media Reader and Training Consultant.
Tyler Tappendorf, Financial and Digital Services Lead, Women’s Entrepreneurship, CARE
Tyler Tappendorf is the Financial and Digital Inclusion Lead for CARE’s Women’s Entrepreneurship team, where he supports financial institutions, fintechs, and ecosystem partners to design and scale women-centered financial products and digital solutions. His work focuses on inclusive credit, digital data for lending, microinsurance, and adjacent services such as childcare and green enterprise, using Women-Centered and Human-Centered Design approaches.
Tyler brings over 15 years of experience living and working across Africa, Asia, and the Caribbean, with deep expertise in consumer research, design thinking, and behavioral insights. Prior to CARE, he led multi-country innovation and research projects with organizations including UNHCR, GIZ, UNCDF, GSMA, and FSD Kenya, and served as Co-Founder and Head of Customer Experience at Inclusivity Solutions in South Africa, designing customer-centric digital finance solutions across multiple African markets.
Wendy Teleki, Head of the We-Fi Secretariat
Wendy Teleki is Head of the We-Fi Secretariat, which is housed in the World Bank Group. The Secretariat is responsible for supporting the We-Fi Governing Committee in the allocation and supervision of We-Fi funding as well as communications, advocacy, and learning focused on strengthening opportunities for women entrepreneurs in collaboration with the GC, Implementing Partners and other stakeholders.
Ms. Teleki joined We-Fi in May 2019. Prior to that, Ms. Teleki worked with the International Finance Corporation leading numerous activities and initiatives focused on small and medium enterprise development in emerging markets around the world. This included several blended finance, investment and advisory programs, including IFC’s We-Fi program and the Global SME Finance Initiative.
Wendy has an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of Business and an MA in International Economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
