Blog - Center for International Private Enterprise

Trade Capacity Building and Private Sector Engagement

By Kirby Bryan For sustainable economic growth, developing countries must have the capacity to functionally interact with the global market. Much of the onus for building that capacity rests on a domestic commitment to reforms compatible with global trade. Many emerging markets have lofty aspirat...

International Women’s Day Wrap-Up

Last week, in celebration of International Women's Day, the CIPE Development Blog focused on stories of women's empowerment from around the world: Teodora Mihaylova kicked off the week, writing about how truly democratic governance requires full participation by women. In Ecuador, more women ...

Empowered Women in Liberia: Their Voices Must Be Heard

Lawrence Yealue, II. is a CIPE-Atlas Corps Think Tank LINKS Fellow at Accountability Lab In Liberia, female participation in decision-making has long been limited to a few women who have fought tirelessly to be heard. Liberian society needs to take a critical look at the role of women across trad...

HeForShe: Engaging Men in Women’s Economic Empowerment

By Spogmay Ahmed On September 20, 2014 the United Nations launched the HeForShe campaign, a worldwide effort to engage men in the promotion of women's rights. Over 200,000 men and boys have since signed the pledge to support gender equality, and the social media movement has reached more than 1.2...

Building a Network of Change-Makers in South Asia

In late January, CIPE held its sixth in a series of capacity building and networking workshops in Colombo for its South Asia regional network of women’s business associations, which includes organizations from Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and India. When CIPE began to work with this...

How Mentorships Support Women Entrepreneurs

Fear of failure. Lack of confidence. Aversion to risk. These are some of the biggest hurdles that one faces when starting a business. Around the world, these challenges are often far more pronounced for women entrepreneurs. The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2012 Women’s Report noted that on...

How Can Societies Support Women in the Economy?

Women entrepreneurs around the world face a myriad of challenges. Balancing obligations between at home and work, lack of networks, and limited access to finance are just few of the universal problems faced by women in the private sector. Such challenges hinder women's full economic potential and th...

Entrepreneurship and Women’s Economic Empowerment in Ecuador

Ecuador, the land of the eternal spring, the Middle of the World, and the Galapagos Islands, is also a land where nearly 26 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. Seven of every ten people are employed informally — meaning they lack official contracts and may not be subject t...

In Celebration of International Women’s Day

Women comprise the majority of world's population, are heads of households, have outpaced their male peers in educational attainment and contribute to the social and economic wellbeing of their families, communities, and countries. Yet, for all of these advances, women in leadership position are ...

Tracing the Link Between Capital Markets and the Development of Democracy

Synonymous with the aristocracy and social elite for much of history, the "political class" took a new form – that of the merchants and businessmen – during the Middle Ages. A class that reached their position from hard work and skills, their growing power came from their business activities ins...