Fostering Women Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries

FountainBlue is pleased to produce a When She Speaks session on Fostering Women Entrepreneurship in Developing Countries featuring facilitator Linda Alepin, head of the Global Women's Leadership Network, panelist Remi Matsumoto, Founder and President of the Hina Coral Restoration Network and panelist Praveena Varadarajan, Director of Engineering at Sun Microsystems.

Below is a Summary of Notes and Advice for your reference, drawn on the wisdom of our facilitators and each of you as participants.

We in Silicon Valley are sheltered from the realities of the difficulties of others in developing countries

• Men and women from around the world life for under $2 a day
• There is a gender gap in entrepreneurship, over 1 in three entrepreneurs are women. Visit http://www.genconsortium.org for more information
• Women entrepreneurs are more likely to share their wealth and experience with their families and larger community.
• Where women are empowered, the country's general economy benefits

Companies and leaders benefit from fostering entrepreneurship

• It builds a larger target market
• It encourages partnerships
• It stimulates and rewards results-oriented entrepreneurial thinking
• It encourages and supports innovative thinking

As leaders, we need to foster entrepreneurship

• Encourage hard-working, committed, resolved and focused entrepreneurs - the drive is imperative to success
• Expose potential entrepreneurs to hear great leaders speak. This can spark a vision, drive, and the entrepreneurial spirit and also help budding leaders to build connections.
• Encourage respectful debate - it stimulates critical and innovative thinking and building of bonds and connections between like-minded people
• Provide support structures and educational opportunities
• Work with technology organizations to encourage providing technology solutions to entrepreneurs around the world
• Encourage compassionate dialogue between countries, organizations, leaders, to develop empowering, collaborative, win-win solutions in support of successful entrepreneurial ventures, providing tangible results
• Encourage the creation of social treaties, alongside the political treaties
• Look for opportunities to encourage more women participation in entrepreneurial ventures
• Encourage the sharing of women's stories; leverage technologies for easy distribution of these compelling stories

Take Action

• Social entrepreneurship - innovative solutions for one of society's pressing problems coupled with action. Includes a model, an approach, a strategy for proliferation.
• Identify the many groups in the region and in the world support the cause of women entrepreneurship:
• Global Women Leadership Network: Whole Woman, Whole Leader, Whole World, http://www.gwln.org
• One World Children's Fund, http://www.owcf.org/
• Global Fund for Women http://www.globalfundforwomen.org
• Anita Borg Institute http://www.anitaborg.org/index.php
• E-mail us at info@FountainBlue.biz if you would like to join us in an ongoing effort to collaborate between technology companies in Silicon Valley in support of fostering women entrepreneurship in developing countries

For more information, visit http://www.FountainBlue.biz.