Creating Opportunities for Women Entrepreneurs in Côte d’Ivoire
By Marc Steen
Recently, many countries on the African continent have seen high rates of growth in women-run businesses[1]. But these businesses often face more social restrictions than businesses run by men, limiting their rate of growth. Often women have less access to capital, less collateral, less time in school, and have more difficulty accessing information and building business relations then their male peers. In some cases, women are excluded from sectors altogether. These barriers hamper the development of women-run businesses and the development of society.
In Côte d’Ivoire, where Cultivating New Frontiers in Agriculture (CNFA) implements the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Food for Progress-funded Maximizing Opportunities in Cocoa Activity (MOCA), women face particularly high levels of discrimination. Improving equity for Ivorian women would grow the country’s GNP between $6 billion and $10 billion in the long term [2]. This highlights one way that discriminating women is a lose-lose situation for everyone. Eliminating these inequalities between men and women is key to the country’s economic growth and future development.
CNFA’s approach through MOCA invests in women entrepreneurs and producers so that they can achieve their vision and mission. To equip women entrepreneurs against market challenges and inequalities, MOCA provides training, mentorship, access to finance, and in-kind grants to support women entrepreneurs invest in their businesses, helping them overcome gender-specific barriers.
Two out of MOCA’s four Farm Service Centers — a CNFA model of one-stop shops that retail quality inputs such as seeds and fertilizers, and services like machinery rentals and output marketing — are run by women. Outstanding entrepreneurs, they established their input businesses in an environment of gender inequity and proved that, despite this environment, they were able to heed an opportunity in the market and invest in themselves with support from MOCA.
CNFA has applied this same approach in Ethiopia, where women face similar levels of discrimination, through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Agricultural Growth Program-Livestock Market Development (AGP-LMD). As part of the AGP-LMD project, CNFA amplified the work of 285 women entrepreneurs, providing them with management and leadership training, experience sharing, and business skills. By the end of this coaching program, the women who participated had increased decision-making power over the use of their own time and the average monthly income from their businesses tripled, benefitting the women and their family members.
By investing in women entrepreneurs who choose to challenge the gender norms that limit the growth of their businesses, our projects have created opportunities for women, amplifying their work and supporting their efforts to overcome gendered barriers to business success.
[1] African female entrepreneurship RATES highest in world. (2017, September 07). Retrieved March 09, 2021, from https://disrupt-africa.com/2017/09/08/african-female-entrepreneurship-rates-highest-in-world/
[2] Women: The Hidden figures Behind Cote D’IVOIRE’S ECONOMIC EMERGENCE. (n.d.). Retrieved March 09, 2021, from https://blogs.worldbank.org/nasikiliza/women-the-hidden-figures-behind-cote-divoires-economic-emergence
Marc Steen is the chief of party of the USDA funded-Maximizing Opportunities for Cocoa Activity (MOCA). He was also the chief of party of USAID’s Agricultural Growth Program-Livestock Market Development (AGP-LMD) also implemented by CNFA.
