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Strive Women: Her Business, Her Financial Future

Three women, two of whom are wearing vests, stand together with their arms crossed in a store aisle.

Strive Women supports women entrepreneurs to feel confident, resilient, in control, and equipped to grow their businesses, so they gain economic power in their households, communities, and economies.

Overview

Strive Women, a four-year program led by CARE and supported by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, strengthens the financial health of women-led small businesses in Pakistan, Peru, and Vietnam. Women-led small businesses are critical contributors to economies, communities, and households worldwide.

Working with local partners, Strive Women takes a women-centered design approach to deliver tailored financial products and support services, such as digital skills building and strengthening women’s networks. The program addresses the unique gender barriers faced by women-led businesses and tests innovations related to the climate crisis and childcare, which both disproportionately impact women.

Building on a long-term commitment to women entrepreneurs, CARE is also activating an inclusive ecosystem of stakeholders. While the program will directly support over 300,000 entrepreneurs, Strive Women aims to reach over 6 million entrepreneurs in total through its campaigns.

Strive logo

The opportunity

Micro, small, and medium enterprises account for 90% of businesses, 60-70% of employment, and 50% of GDP worldwide (UN, 2023). Women-led small businesses are critical contributors to economies, communities, and households worldwide. However, women do not have equal access to finance. By not recognizing the potential of the women’s market, businesses are losing out on a huge opportunity. In the financial services sector, 80% of women-owned small businesses with credit needs are either unserved or underserved—a $1.7 trillion financing gap (UNSGSA, 2018).

Financial health

By focusing on the financial health of a woman entrepreneur, CARE and partners will support her to balance both her household and business cashflow, prepare for and manage financial shocks, and increase her decision-making power. Ultimately, Strive Women supports women running small businesses to feel confident, in control, and able to invest in what matters to both her family and her business.

Our focus

Strive Women supports micro and small enterprises, 70% of which will be women-led with at least two employees, and who have been in business for at least two years. The program runs from 2023 to 2027 in Pakistan, Peru, and Vietnam where women face multiple gender barriers and there are large segments of unserved and underserved micro and small businesses ready for investment.

Where Strive Women works

Strive Women in Pakistan

Strive Women in Pakistan supports women entrepreneurs to feel confident, resilient, in control, and equipped to grow their businesses, so they gain economic power in their households, communities, and economies. Read More

Strive Women in Pakistan

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Strive Women in Peru

Strive Women in Peru supports women entrepreneurs to feel confident, resilient, in control, and equipped to grow their businesses, so they gain economic power in their households, communities, and economies. Read More

Strive Women in Peru

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Strive Women in Vietnam

Strive Women in Vietnam supports women entrepreneurs to feel confident, resilient, in control, and equipped to grow their businesses, so they gain economic power in their households, communities, and economies. Read More

Strive Women in Vietnam

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Latest News

Her Business, Her Terms. Strive Women looks at confidence, control, and decision-making.

New CARE research shows women entrepreneurs are not lacking in confidence, but are held back by unsupportive systems.

Her Business, Her Terms. Strive Women looks at confidence, control, and decision-making.

Read more

Small business, big impact: The transformative power of women entrepreneurs

By Sarah Hewitt, Director Strive Women, Women’s Entrepreneurship at CARE · June 20, 2024

There are more women than ever in business today, yet most have only three-quarters of the legal rights that men have when it comes to career, finances, and work-life balance – this despite the fact that women-led businesses are vital not just for their reinvestment into household incomes and national economies, but also for their transformative power. Read More

Small business, big impact: The transformative power of women entrepreneurs

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3 Proven Strategies that Create Impact for Women Entrepreneurs

CARE's Rathi Mani-Kandt shares insights on supporting women entrepreneurs and collaborating with local partners.

3 Proven Strategies that Create Impact for Women Entrepreneurs

Read more in Business Fights Poverty

Latest Resources

Strive Women Global Overview

Strive Women, a four-year program (2023-2027) led by CARE and supported by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, strengthens the financial health of women-led small businesses in Pakistan, Peru, and Vietnam. Read More

Strive Women Global Overview

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Ignite Final Report

Ignite set out to reach 3.9 million entrepreneurs in 3 years with $5.26 million USD in grant funding from Mastercard.

Ignite Final Report

Read more here

Ignite Program Learning Event Summary

CARE and Mastercard's Center for Inclusive Growth organized a practitioner dialogue to share practical insights and learnings from the Ignite Program where three panelists discussed key drivers to scale impact for women-led micro and small businesses financial health - specifically around childcare, green business, and measurement practices. The event was closed with a group discussion of actionable steps for joint efforts. Read More

Ignite Program Learning Event Summary

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Projects

Ignite Program

In partnership with Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, CARE’s Ignite Program unleashed the power of growth-oriented entrepreneurs.

Learn more

Strive Czechia

Strive Czechia unleashes the power of Micro and Small Enterprises in the Czech Republic to succeed in the digital economy.

Read More
Mastercard Strive

Strive Women is part of Mastercard Strive, a global portfolio of philanthropic programs aimed at helping small businesses around the world thrive in the digital economy. The program is implemented by CARE, supported by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, and funded with a $9 million USD investment from the Mastercard Impact Fund.