The power of women entrepreneurs driving sustainable businesses with determination and ingenuity is often overlooked or underestimated. By recognising and harnessing their potential, investors will see good returns.
In fact, our new research conducted through the Strive Women program, implemented by CARE and supported by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, reveals that 96% of women entrepreneurs in countries as diverse as Pakistan, Peru, and Vietnam report high confidence in their ability to lead and expand their businesses, and 87% have the specific goal to do so. Despite this, one in three women entrepreneurs find it difficult to access the critical formal financial resources needed to grow their business.
Economic powerhouses, not charity cases
While entrepreneurs demonstrate remarkable business acumen, they face barriers to growth that have nothing to do with their capabilities. Surveying over 2,000 women entrepreneurs, CARE found that ~90% have set clear business goals, 97% of them express confidence in their ability to reach these targets, and 87% feel prepared for any unplanned event that might negatively affect their business.
Women entrepreneurs are exceptionally confident and show a strong commitment to reinvest in their communities and adapt their businesses to market changes. So, why aren’t they being flooded with what they need to thrive?
Financial institutions repeatedly miss the opportunity to support them as credible, growth-oriented clients. And this is costly: by some estimates, providing equal business opportunities to women could add up to $6 trillion to the global economy.
Instead, these institutions sideline women entrepreneurs as part of corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts, failing to see them as economic drivers with immense potential to catalyze local markets.
From commercial banks to chambers of commerce, women entrepreneurs aren’t being served as credible market actors: clients, suppliers, and business leaders. Reconciling these needs with the realities of women entrepreneurs are not pleas for special treatment; they are requests for resources aligned with their capabilities, confidence, and business ambitions. Meeting this need creates a powerful opportunity—not only to support individual entrepreneurs but to strengthen communities and drive broader economic resilience.
Women-centered design is good business
Women-centered design (WCD) for financial services is a savvy investment in a client segment that already demonstrates impressive returns.AsAna Cecilia Akamine, CEO of Strive Women partner Financiera Confianza, says “[Women] are reliable payers, making them a valuable and underserved market. Investing in women is not only a social priority but a sound business decision.”
Women entrepreneurs need solutions that alleviate systematic barriers: accessible, appropriately sized loans, networking opportunities, and digital solutions that reflect their realities. WCD tailors to the realities of women’s lives and all the barriers they overcome into financial service design, ensuring that products are desirable, feasible and viable.
Breaking through blind spots
To build market systems that genuinely work for women entrepreneurs, we need to change the narrative: women are not defined by disenfranchisement; they are confident, capable, and attuned to their business needs.
By engaging women as partners—not just beneficiaries—we take critical steps toward unlocking their full potential as leaders and changemakers. So, when you picture a confident entrepreneur, think of women like Saima, Maria Jose, and Chanh — resilient innovators redefining success and demanding systems that work as hard for them as they do for their businesses.
