Emerging Lessons on Women's Entrepreneurship in Asia and the Pacific: Case Studies from the Asian Development Bank and The Asia Foundation

By Asian Development Bank and The Asia Foundation

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and The Asia Foundation prepared this report as a guide to support women's entrepreneurship in Asia and the Pacific. The three parts of the report cover the key barriers that women in Asia and the Pacific face when trying to establish or grow a business, case studies of projects supported by ADB and The Asia Foundation throughout the region, and proposed areas for further research. The recommendations are aimed at creating an enabling environment for women entrepreneurs and strategies for addressing gaps and leveraging opportunities.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Asian Development Bank
• Release date: Oct 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9789292613532

Book preview

EMERGING LESSONS ON WOMEN’S ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

Case Studies from the Asian Development Bank and The Asia Foundation

OCTOBER 2018

Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license (CC BY 3.0 IGO)

© 2018 Asian Development Bank and The Asia Foundation

Some rights reserved. Published in 2018.

ISBN 978-92-9261-352-5 (print), 978-92-9261-353-2 (electronic)

Publication Stock No. TCS189585-2

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.22617/TCS189585-2

The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views and policies of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) or its Board of Governors or the governments they represent, and The Asia Foundation or its funders.

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Notes:

In this publication, $ refers to United States dollars.

ADB recognizes China as the People’s Republic of China, Korea as the Republic of Korea, Kyrgyz as the Kyrgyz Republic, and Vietnam as Viet Nam.

Corrigenda to ADB publications may be found at http://www.adb.org/publications/corrigenda.

Photos on the front cover:

Top row, from left: Bibi Ayesha Lubna, a young entrepreneur, started a small thread industry with the assistance of a loan. She is one of many women who, through the project, took out a loan to start or expand their businesses in Bangladesh through ADB’s Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Development Project (photo by ADB/ M R Hasan); Entrepreneurs participate in a small group training course at the Women’s Business Center in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (photo by The Asia Foundation/Davaanyan. D.).

Middle row, from left: Hasmik Barkhudaryan, discussing the menu with her staff at Aries café, is one of the women entrepreneurs who benefited from ADB’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Support Sector Development Program in Armenia (photo by ADB/ Armenia Resident Mission); Women from the fishing village of Tubusereia have just completed fish processing training at a local vocational school as part of the Pacific Private Sector Development Initiative’s Strengthening the Supply Chain in Fisheries pilot project in Port Moresby. The pilot project is providing loans and skills training to help participants establish sustainable formal businesses in Papua New Guinea (photo by ADB/ Eric Sales); A participant in The Asia Foundation’s Empowering Migrant Women as Entrepreneurs in China project in Shanghai sells her handicrafts during a community fair organized as part of the project’s business skills training sales exercise (photo by The Asia Foundation/Migrant Women Entrepreneurs Project).

Bottom row, from left: Shamma Parvin Lipi expanded her boutique and tailoring business when she borrowed a loan from a local bank supported through ADB’s Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise Development Project (photo by ADB/ M R Hasan); Clients of the Vietnam Bank for Social Policies check the bank’s text message service for account-related notifications on their phones while working on a rice field (photo by The Asia Foundation/Tran Giang Linh).

CONTENTS