"Endeavor Insight partnered with HSBC to examine the challenges that climate tech founders face as they scale their companies, and the opportunities for investors and supporters to help them succeed. This study demonstrates how global connectivity can further drive innovation and highlights what decision makers can do to better support female-led and minority-led companies."

"The Climate Capital Network’s (CCN) first annual India Climate Finance Report explores the direction of climate finance in India, uncovers funding opportunities and gaps, and showcases organisations that are using innovative approaches. This report consolidates survey findings, interviews, and articles from leading climate finance organisations allocating in India. The universe of funders in India has grown significantly to encompass everyone from the Climate Committed (core mandate and/ or deploying in these sectors for a number of years) to the Climate Crossover (newly part of the mandate and starting to actively deploy/ refine thesis) to the Climate Curious (will opportunistically deploy, but no specific mandate at this point). We reached out to funders who are actively and strategically looking at climate right now. The focus of this report is on the data as a way to provide context and background, but equally importantly on the insights and areas of emergence."

"Entrepreneurship To the Point (eTTP) conducted research in South Africa on accelerating women-owned businesses in male-dominated sectors. To better understand the key barriers to entry and growth that women-owned businesses face in male-dominated sectors, they conducted surveys of 97 women and interviews with 17 women entrepreneurs in the male-dominated sectors in South Africa. The key findings of this report are 1) women’s participation in male-dominated sectors has increased, 2) the increase is driven by women entrepreneurs' passion, 3) but they still face multitudes of challenges in entering the sector and growing their businesses, 4) while the government has pushed for some policy frameworks to support women-owned businesses, 5) women entrepreneurs need both men and women mentors, and 6) there is more need for sector-focused accelerator/incubator programs"

"Entrepreneurship is a fundamental element for innovation dynamics, employment generation as well as productivity generation and economic growth (van Praag & Versloot, 2007). However, women are less likely to start a business (Parker, 2009). Albeit this trend has been slowly changing in recent years (GEM, 2021), female founders seem to be losing out, particularly in the high-growth venture. Brazil, Chile, Colombia, and Mexico have some of the most dynamic entrepreneurial activities in the world. However, particularly in Brazil and Chile, the rate of early-stage entrepreneurship is significantly lower for females than for males (GEM, 2021). The fact that the gap in entrepreneurship is visible not only in general but especially among ambitious and high-growth start-ups is worrisome. This report presents a diagnosis of the gender finance gap for start-ups that applied to accelerators, that is, start-ups that operate mostly in the technology sector and have high-growth ambitions. The finding of this report matters to female founders trying to grow their venture, investors who might miss out on more efficient investment opportunities by overlooking female-led ventures, and policy makers who steer macroeconomic policy decisions."

"In recent decades, the number of female entrepreneurs has grown substantially, particularly in low and middle-income countries. However, the characteristics and performance of female-led ventures differ significantly from those of ventures led by men. A potential reason for this is the lack of clearly defined venture goals, including the profit margin that ventures target. We study the relationship between gender and target margins using a large dataset of ventures located in Latin America and the Caribbean and Sub-Saharan Africa. We find that ventures led only by women are almost five percentage points less likely than male-led ventures to establish target margins, even after controlling for observable venture and founder characteristics. In addition, ventures with only female founders tend to set lower target margins than those with only male founders. These results suggest that policymakers, accelerators, and incubators, can play a major role in supporting female entrepreneurs as they grow their businesses by encouraging women to set clear and realistic target margins to be more successful at raising funds for their ventures."

"El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo construir una tipología regional de la capacidad de innovación en su relación con el comportamiento emprendedor en México. Para esto se aplicó una metodología de análisis factorial de componentes principales con el fin de comprobar las dimensiones en que se integran las regiones y un análisis de conglomerados para la clasificación de las regiones. A partir de lo anterior, se obtuvieron 5 agrupamientos regionales en relación con el comportamiento innovador: región no metropolitana, pequeñas regiones industriales, región industrial de tecnología media/alta, región metropolitana con estructura diversificada y aglomeración industrial avanzada. Con los resultados se concluye que las regiones con mayor capacidad de innovación son las que mayor fomento emprendedor registran."

"This paper provides an analysis of local development, to deepen understanding of characteristics and behavior of women in rural areas in the municipality of Los Cabos, Baja California Sur. Specifically in the local delegations of Santiago, Miraflores, and La Ribera. We also identify investment opportunities that promote the entrepreneurial activity of women in that area. We wish to determine the business opportunities available in the area. We also identify market demands, available and potential resources, and analyze the possible impact of local areas through potential economic activities. The methodology involved examining documentary sources. In addition, we utilize direct observation, and planning workshops. Later, we administer a questionnaire to a representative sample of women from the study area. The results allow us to diagnose the woman’s situation and her development opportunities."

"Conventional wisdom holds that women are less likely than men to start and lead  businesses. This trend, however, may be changing. Since 2020, the Visa Economic Empowerment Institute (VEEI) has surveyed small businesses around the world. Our findings suggest that firms born in the past two years are more likely than older firms to be headed by women. They are also more likely than pre-pandemic firms to be led by minority women. And once they start to export, they sell to a larger and more diverse set of markets. These women-led firms are also adopting digital technologies at about the same rate as those led by men. What factors predict success? The newly established women-led firms that weathered the initial impacts of COVID-19 better than other businesses share three characteristics: 1) they are more likely to use digital payments; 2) they are more likely to sell on global marketplaces that enable them to scale their sales and diversify their markets; and 3) they are more likely to export. This paper sets out recommendations for policymakers and the business community to better encourage and support the development of women-led firms by: 1) providing access to digital opportunities; 2) fostering digital skills; and 3) promoting a safe environment in which women-led firms can operate."

Extant research results illustrate that women are roughly half as likely to become entrepreneurs as men (Kauffman Compilation: Research on Gender and Entrepreneurship, 2016). However, women may see themselves fit in traditionally male jobs when the language used in the job advertisement is communal in nature (Gaucher, 2011), and vice versa. To empirically test this idea, the authors first sought to understand if there were any gender biases in the accelerators’ calls for applications using a validated scale of masculine and feminine words. They found a higher percentage of feminine words across most regions, which is in the opposite direction of what was expected. Second, the authors manipulated the language used in an accelerator program call for application (1) with the percentage of gendered words found from the accelerators on the ANDE list (3-4%) and (2) an exaggerated percentage of gendered words (9%), to see how it affected women and men’s perceptions of the accelerator program. In general, men in the U.S. express high entrepreneurial fit, sense of belonging, and application success possibly because the U.S. is high on both individualism and masculinity on Hoefstede’s country culture dimensions. However, women in Latin America report results that are opposite to men in the United States.

"The report "Impact Investments in Brazil – 2020", carried out by ANDE in partnership with the Aliança por Investimentos e Negócios de Impacto, Instituto Clima e Sociedade, Fundação Grupo Boticário and with the support of Wright Capital, captures the characteristics of the sector of impact investing in Brazil in the year 2020, based on a sample of 38 impact investors active in the region. The report provides an overview of where and how capital is being allocated and identifies the challenges facing the ecosystem, as well as addressing topics such as gender equity and assessing climate risks and opportunities for portfolios."