The following briefing presents several key points of convergence that emerged from an hour-long coffee session amongst expert speakers, intending to tackle the financial gap for women entrepreneurs in clean energy and other cleantech areas. The session was organized on June 6th, as side event during the UNIDO Cleantech Days 2024. It aimed at drawing lessons learned from the experiences shared and provide practical tips for accessing finance beyond the event. 

Background

Achieving global climate goals and SDG7 requires the equitable inclusion of women in the energy sector as users, producers, decision-makers, innovators, and entrepreneurs. Research highlights that integrating gender considerations into the energy value chain boosts productivity and economic outcomes. Diversity drives innovation and is beneficial for businesses, making a gender-diverse entrepreneurial ecosystem essential for achieving SDG7 and advancements in cleantech.

Women-led SMEs face significant financing barriers, especially in emerging economies, due to subconscious bias and discriminatory norms. Addressing these barriers and improving access to funding is crucial for empowering women-led enterprises in clean energy and cleantech, ensuring their sustainability and contribution to global development goals.

Session Objectives

1. Promoting inspirational stories of women entrepreneurs who overcame barriers to accessing finance.
2. Sharing insights from expert contributors on effective mechanisms and policies to empower women entrepreneurs.

The session covered the following questions:

• Challenges/Barriers/Problems: What are the current challenges that women entrepreneurs face in accessing financing mechanisms and tools?
• Opportunities: How can governments, the private sector, financing actors and intergovernmental organisations support women innovators in the clean energy/cleantech sector(s)? How do we empower women as cleantech/clean energy innovators/entrepreneurs? How do we make finance equally accessible?

Key Observations

Inclusive Decision-Making and Women-Centred Funds: Emphasis was placed on the necessity for inclusive decision-making processes and the establishment of women-centred funds to bridge the financing gap for women entrepreneurs. A significant solution proposed for improving access to finance involves actively including women in decision-making processes. This approach ensures that financial systems effectively incorporate women-centered funds and address the specific needs of women, fostering greater financial inclusion and empowerment. 

Capacity Building and Policy Guidelines: Speakers unanimously agreed on the critical importance of capacity building for women entrepreneurs. They emphasized the need for comprehensive training programs, mentorship opportunities, and network development to equip women with essential skills and knowledge. Intervention must start at STEM level. Additionally, robust policy guidelines specifically addressing the unique challenges faced by women entrepreneurs are crucial. 

Application of Gender Lens Investing: To ensure women entrepreneurs can access funds, speakers advocated for the incorporation of gender lens investing to promote equitable opportunities in the financial sector. Rather than a one-size-fits-all solution, policies and recommendations must cater to specific issues that women face with a recognition that women have different vulnerabilities in the product space. 

Maintenance of Integrity and Transparency: Speakers stressed the need to maintain integrity and transparency throughout the investment process and pressed entrepreneurs in the sector to invest in due diligence. Recommendations were given to conduct thorough due diligence on partners, maintain integrity under pressure, and use grants to prevent corruption, as integrity ultimately pays off.

Innovation and Public Sector Entrepreneurship: Partnership goes beyond funding. Reminder to look at what funders can offer by considering the valuable networks they can provide, fostering connections and collaborations that drive growth and success. 

Key Recommendations

• Develop targeted capacity-building programs and mentorship networks for women entrepreneurs.
• Conduct further research on innovative financing models for clean energy and other cleantech areas led by women.
• Share success stories and lessons learned from supporting women-led startups.
• Explore partnership opportunities between represented organisations to strengthen support for women entrepreneurs within the entrepreneurship ecosystem.