Research Briefs & Reports - In-depth Analysis From Womenable

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In-depth Analysis From Womenable

Sharing knowledge on trends in women's entrepreneurship globally

Womenable works with a number of organizations interested in supporting women's enterprise development to conduct primary research and secondary analysis on the characteristics, contributions and challenges facing women business owners worldwide. Here, in descending chronological order, are reports and research briefs authored by Womenable:

Womenable President & CEO Julie Weeks presented a paper at the 2010 Diana research conference in Banff, Alberta, Canada. Entitled, "Assessing Business Enabling Environments: How Gender Changes the Equation," the paper draws upon work that Weeks has done over the past year engendering a USAID-funded business assessment tool, BizCLIR. The new GenderCLIR assessment is compared to other gender-aware assessments and most particularly to what important factors are missed when gender-blind BEE assessments take place. (September 2010)

Womenable participated in a gender diagnostic effort in Rwanda for Booz Allen Hamilton and the US Agency for International Development's Women in Development office, which resulted in the publication of "Rwanda: Investing in the Empowerment of Women in Business." (December 2009)

Womenable President and CEO Julie Weeks reprised the presentation of her paper "A Connotation for Control: Women Business Owners Seeking Balance AND Growth," at the 52nd annual International Council for Small Business (ICSB) conference in Seoul, South Korea. The paper takes a look at the desires of growth-oriented women business owners and finds that seeking growth and greater work-life balance are NOT mutually exclusive desires, at least among this select group of women. Click the link above to download and read the report, and click on this link to listen and view an audio slide show of the paper presentation. (June 2009)

Over the course of the past 18 months, Womenable has worked with Count Me In on their "Make Mine a Million $ Business" initiative, studying the plans, goals, and outlook of the growing number of women who are joining their online community. In a newly-released report from last year's survey among "M3" members, we discover that there are some significant differences in pre-business experiences, goals and motivations by entrepreneurial generation. Click on the following link to download and read the report entitled, "Entrepreneurship Across the Generations: Comparing Baby Boomers and Generation X" (January 2009)

Womenable President and CEO Julie Weeks presented a paper at the 31st annual Institute for Small Business and Entrepreneurship conference held in Belfast, Northern Ireland in November 2008. The paper, entitled "A Connotation for Control: Women Business Owners Seeking Balance AND Growth", takes a look at the desires of growth-oriented women business owners and finds that seeking growth and greater work-life balance are NOT mutually exclusive desires, at least among this select group of women. Click the link above to download and read the report. (November 2008)

With the support of American Express OPEN, Womenable is working with Count Me In on their "Make Mine a Million $ Business" initiative, studying the plans, goals, and outlook of the growing number of women who are joining their online community. In a newly-released report from last year's survey among "M3" members, we discover that the goals and motivations of women seeking to grow to the million-dollar level differ by ethnicity. Click here to download and read the report, "The Million Dollar Mantle: A Coat of Many Colors." (July 2008)

Womenable worked with the International Finance Corporation's Gender Entrepreneurship Markets team on a landmark 5-country study of women business owners in the Middle East and North Africa. The report was published at a launch event in Amman, Jordan in 2007 under the auspices of Her Majesty Queen Rania. The report is available in both English and Arabic. In addition, individual country reports are now available for Tunisia (in French) and the United Arab Emirates (in English). (June 2008)

Womenable, in collaboration with The Center for Women's Entrepreneurship at Chatham University and with the support of the National Association of Women Business Owners, has published the results of a pilot study exploring the desire, difficulties and dimensions of second-stage women business owners, the so-called "missing middle". Click on these links to read and download the full study report, Mapping the Missing Middle: Determining the Desire and Dimensions of Second-Stage Women Business Owners, and the study news release. (May 2007)

Last year, Womenable worked with the Association of Women's Business Centers to conduct a survey among center leaders focused on their visions of the unique characteristics and strengths of WBCs, and their challenges with funding in today's political environment. Now that this report has been shared within the association, the AWBC has given us permission to share it more broadly. You may download and read the report, "The Values, Views, and Visions of Women's Business Center Leaders in the United States", here. (March 2007)

Womenable's work with the International Finance Corporation's Gender Entrepreneurship Markets initiative, and the Mekong Private Sector Development Facility, has resulted in the publication of a report documenting the characteristics, challenges and needs of women business owners in Vietnam. The report, "Women Business Owners in Vietnam: A National Survey", is now available in both English and Vietnamese. (March 2006)

A summary of three important research studies focused on women's business centers has en published by Womenable. "The Performance, Progress and Promise of Women's Business Centers in the United States" is the first in an occasional series of research analysis reports that will be published by Womenable, in our aim to provide concise, cogent, and actionable summaries of information of interest to the stewards of women's entrepreneurship worldwide. (January 2006)

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