What Works in Supporting Women-Led Businesses ?

This paper reviews the literature on strategies to support women entrepreneurs in improving their business outcomes, focusing on interventions designed to address four key areas of constraints: human capital gaps, access to finance, access to technology and markets, and contextual factors such as legal and regulatory constraints, social norms, access to care, and gender-based violence. The report emphasizes the shift in policy focus from encouraging a high number of women-led startups to supporting growth-oriented enterprises led by women. It highlights the potential of innovative women entrepreneurs as agents of change while acknowledging the multiple barriers they face in growing their businesses. The study concludes that while several interventions show promise, there is a need for more precise targeting and testing of different intervention packages due to the modest average treatment effects and heterogeneity observed across various support strategies.