Gabon: Fostering business development to empower women
Investment Promotion and Competitiveness Project
 Description                                                  Development Challenge
 Purpose: To improve the investment climate and to            Despite strong economic growth over the past decade, the
 foster enterprise development through business               Gabon’s unemployment rate is 16 percent and female
 environment reforms and stimulating Small and                unemployment rate is 27 percent. Women are particularly
 Medium Enterprises (SMEs) with an emphasis on
 increasing women employment through skill-building           affected in that they represent only 29 percent of wage and
 and business opportunities.                                  salaried workers but 63 percent of vulnerable employment,
 Expected Results (include): 25,500 Gabonese, of              which is unpaid family workers and own-account workers.
 which half will be women, are expected to benefit            Households headed by females, which account for 20
 from new jobs and skills by the project’s end in 2019.
                                                              percent, are more likely to be living below the poverty line
 IBRD Financing: $18 million                                  than households headed by males.
                                                              Project Description
                                                              The project is designed to support the Government’s strategy
                                                              to promote Gabon as a sound investment spot, and build new
                                                              sectors in the economy. It will provide for a single, one-stop
                                                              shop for businesses and a new streamlined business registry
                                                              with a web-based, e-database and help improve access to
                                                              financial services, particularly for women and youth, as a step
                                                              towards improving their chances of opening their own small
                                                              businesses. The project targets women by supporting
                                                              conditions to help stimulate SMEs, such as a Women’s
                                                              Business Center to support female entrepreneurs with
                                                              advisory services, training, and access to business
                                               © World Bank
                                               © World Bank   opportunities.

For more information:
http://www.worldbank.org/projects/P129267?lang=en
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