Case Study

Analysis of Swisscontact's Experience in the Promotion of Women Entrepreneurs in Micro-, Small- and Medium Sized Enterprises

Investigating Swisscontact's effectiveness in developing women owned enterprises

This paper investigates Swisscontact's (SC's) experience in the promotion of women entrepreneurs in micro, small, and medium sized enterprises. Specifically, it

  • Analyzes SC-programs where the promotion of women entrepreneurs is either a specific component or an integral part of a SME promotion program in Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, Indonesia, Philippines, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, Tanzania, and Russia;
  • Shows the different strategies, planning and monitoring tools, concrete instruments used, and results achieved for women's entrepreneurs' promotion as well as lessons learnt.

The paper concludes that:

  • Promotion of women is a relatively new arena in Swiss SMEP and has achieved little impact so far;
  • Within Swisscontact's programs, six countries use an integrated approach mainstreaming women within the existing SMEP programme, and five use a separate program approach for the promotion of women.