Rabat, 3 March 2023 (ECA) - The ECA office for North Africa is organising, in partnership with the Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Morocco (AFEM) the webinar on “Female entrepreneurship in North Africa: the role of finance and digital skills,” Tuesday 7 March from 14:00 to 15:30 pm GMT+1.
The lack of female economic participation is not a new challenge in North Africa. This trend has worsened since 2019, with an increase in female unemployment as women’s paid labour and businesses were hit the hardest. In countries like Algeria, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia this has led to female unemployment rates above 20 percent.
At 18%, the gender gap for access to finance in North Africa is the largest in the world. This is mainly caused by women entrepreneurs’ selecting themselves out of the credit market and relying instead on savings as their primary and often only source of capital.
This webinar will be an opportunity to shed light on:
- Financing challenges female entrepreneurs are faced with in North Africa
- How governments and stakeholders can help change cultural beliefs and norms that hinder female entrepreneurship
- What skills and funding types are best suited to foster the development of female entrepreneurship in North Africa
- How digitization is creating opportunities for female entrepreneurship and female access to financial markets
The webinar on “Female entrepreneurship in North Africa: the role of finance and digital skills” is being held on the occasion of the International Women's Day and in preparation for the 55th Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic Development of the Economic Commission for Africa (COM2023) taking place in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) on 15-21 March 2023 under the theme “Fostering recovery and transformation in Africa to reduce inequalities and vulnerabilities.”
EVENT: “Female entrepreneurship in North Africa: the role of finance and digital skills” (webinar)
DATE & TIME: Tuesday 7 March from 14:00 to 15:30 pm Rabat time, 16:00 to 17:30 Addis Ababa time
PLACE: Online. Please click here to register your participation: https://zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2CMXAy4uRiebbypVVzCqTg
LANGUAGES: Discussions will be simultaneously translated into English, French and Arabic
For more information about this webinar, please send an email to filali-ansary@un.org and info@afem.org