Events

Events Upcoming Events Past Events and Recordings

Back to search results

You may also be interested in these articles

Small and Medium Enterprises and Start-Ups

Building a better business ecosystem for entrepreneurs in Côte d’Ivoire

Côte d’Ivoire has been an African success story for much of the last decade. The World Bank estimates that its GDP growth rate was on average 8.2% in the seven years between 2012 and 2019, one of the most dynamic in the world. Much of its growth comes from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), which account for […]

Women's Economic Empowerment

Leading the fight for Women’s Economic Rights in Uganda

Under Ugandan law, a woman who lives with a man but is not legally married to him has no legal rights to their joint finances. It’s a situation that needs to change for women to gain equal access to property and ownership, and to fulfil their economic potential. FIDA-Uganda is an association of women’s lawyers which would like to see the law changed so that women in cohabiting relationships have equal access their property. This is crucial for women’s economic empowerment – without the ability to access and control their own economic assets, women cannot have economic autonomy or access credit.

“Sargassum is bigger than us”: Dealing with the adverse effects of climate change in the tourism industry

Last month, we embarked on a visit to Belize as part of our Investment Climate Reform (ICR) facility intervention, aiming to evaluate the business environment for the tourism sector of Ambergris Caye. This Caribbean destination is renowned for its vibrant marine life, beaches, and the warm hospitality of its people, attracting over 60% of all visitors to Belize. One of the recurring concerns that emerged during our discussions with private and public representatives was the persistent and escalating presence of sargassum seaweed. This natural phenomenon, intensified by the impacts of climate change, poses a significant threat to the local tourism industry and its associated businesses.

You may also be interested in these ICReports

Business Environment Reforms for Youth Entrepreneurship in the ACP Region

This report aims to showcase opportunities for promoting youth entrepreneurship in countries in African, the Caribbean, and Pacific (ACP) regions by implementing strategic business environment reforms (BER). It delves into the challenges faced by young entrepreneurs in the current ACP contexts and suggests ways for policymakers to improve the conditions for starting and running businesses. […]

Trends in Gender Finance in ACP Development Finance Institutions: Overview and Selected Examples

Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) have a key role to play in promoting gender responsive finance and women’s economic empowerment (WEE). While the initiatives of multilateral banks are well-documented and communicated via events and publications, such as 2021’s “Public Development Banks Driving Gender Equality: an Overview of Practices and Measurement Frameworks” by UNWOMEN and the Agence […]

Honour Loans: A Comprehensive Mechanism to Foster Development by Supporting MSMEs

The honour loans mechanism is a multidimensional one combining financing free of interest or requirement for securities or guarantees, with support to entrepreneurs. It has several benefits for entrepreneurs: Firstly, it finances their development, serving as seed funds and strengthening their project’s equity. It can therefore create financial leverage with microcredit or banking loans. Secondly, it can help […]

Assessment of the Landscape of Agribusiness Financing to Women and Youth

The ICR Facility provided technical assistance to the Tanzania Agriculture Development Bank (TADB) in response to a proposal submitted by the bank for support in increasing its outreach to women and youth. TADB is a state-owned development finance institution (DFI) which was launched in 2015. The bank aims to catalyse access to finance to smallholder […]

You may also be interested in these ICR Stories

Promoting business environment reform for youth entrepreneurship

More than one-third of young people in the ACP region work as entrepreneurs. Women represent two out of every five early-stage entrepreneurs globally, and entrepreneurial activity among young women in ACP countries is high. However, young people's access to opportunities for developing their businesses is hampered, among other things, by poor policy and institutional conditions, lack of information on business support services, and lack of coordination and training among civil servants assisting them. This blogpost also invites readers to join our upcoming webinar to learn more about business environment reforms for youth entrepreneurship in ACP region on 16th May.

Credit to women entrepreneurs – in the Dominican Republic, equal financial rights boosted women’s businesses

Women have long been economically disadvantaged in the Dominican Republic. Now, governmental programmes are promoting their financial inclusion and private banks make access to credits much easier for them. This improved the business environment for women and has prompted a wave of female entrepreneurship in the country.

Tax Incentives? New Laws? Regulations? Policy Makers and Sector Specialists Explore Effective Ways to Support the Social Economy in ACP Countries

In Jamaica, the social economy has grown rapidly in the past decade. However, Charmaine Brimm of the Planning Institute of Jamaica, a government agency which manages policies for the country’s sustainable development, says that the sector has developed in a ‘highly informal and fragmented way.’

Access to Loans will now be Easier for Women and Youth Farmers in Tanzania

The Tanzanian agriculture sector depends heavily on the contributions of women and young people. Many of them would like to invest in new machinery, in more land or to use better farming methods. But often they fail because they do not qualify for bank loans. The Tanzania Agricultural Development Bank has set out to change this.

You may also be interested in these event recordings

The Role of Investment Promotion Agencies in Public-Private Dialogue in ACP Countries

Through Public-Private Dialogue, Investment Promotion Agencies contribute to economic policy making and reform, whether through formal and structured processes or informally through their day-to-day activities and contacts with investors. In a previous series of peer-to-peer workshops, IPAs from 8 countries in the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) region had the opportunity to exchange knowledge, share […]

Trends in Gender Finance in DFIs in African Region

Development Finance Institutions (DFIs) have a key role to play in promoting gender responsive finance and women’s economic empowerment (WEE). While the initiatives of multilateral banks are well-documented and communicated via events and publications, visibility of the efforts of national and sub-regional DFIs on this topic is low. Gender finance is not commonly highlighted on their websites […]

Commercial Dispute Resolution through Arbitration

Investments in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries have grown at a steady pace over several years, some of which have triggered disputes that require inclusive and effective resolution services in an increasingly challenging business environment. Arbitrage is one such a commercial dispute resolution method. Features like lower costs, quicker process times, and less formal […]

Using Domestic Financial and Fiscal Policy to Mobilise Private Adaptation Finance in ACP Countries

The countries of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) region are some of the most vulnerable to climate change. Scaling up finance for climate adaptation is critical, particularly across the diversity of private actors from households, through micro-small medium enterprises (MSMEs) to corporations, financial institutions and investors; all of which are influenced by public policy […]