1. The Business Environment for Women in ECA Sarosh Sattar World Bank
Expanding Women’s Opportunities through Entrepreneurship Europe and Central Asia Brussels, October 23, 2008
The Business Environment for Women in ECA
Sarosh Sattar
World Bank

2. Presentation’s Goals What is the general business context in ECA?
Does it apply equally to men and women?
How have women been impacted?
What is unique about women entrepreneurs?

3. The Business Environment in ECA

4. One way to assess the business environment: Doing Business indicators
2007
2008
2009
Starting a business
Dealing with licenses
Employing workers
Registering property
Enforcing contracts
Getting credit
Trading across borders
Protecting investors
Paying taxes
Closing a business
Update of 2007 data
Add 3 countries
Reformer’s Club:
- 11 case studies
Add Not paying bribes
Add Using infrastructure
Research program on regulations and business opportunities for women

5. Eastern Europe and Central Asia reformed the most …
Countries with at least one positive reform in 2007/2008 (%)
Key message #4 ECA reforming the quickest. Eastern Europe and Central Asia – 62 reforms in 23 of the 25 countries, 25% of the total recorded worldwide. Fastest reforming region.
Source: DB 2008

6. Eastern Europe and Central Asia reformed the most …
4 ECA countries are among the top reformers
Eastern Europe and Central Asia reformed the most …
Key message #4 ECA reforming the quickest. Eastern Europe and Central Asia – 62 reforms in 23 of the 25 countries, 25% of the total recorded worldwide. Fastest reforming region.
Source: DB 2009

7. Ease of Doing Business Rankings
Economy
World 1
Georgia 15
Macedonia, FYR 71 2
Estonia 22 16
Czech Republic 75 3
Lithuania 28 17
Poland 76 4
Latvia 29 18
Belarus 85 5
Azerbaijan 33 19
Albania 86 6
Slovakia 36 20
Montenegro 90 7
Hungary 41 21
Serbia 94 8
Armenia 44
Moldova
103 9
Bulgaria 45 23
Croatia
106 10
Romania 47 24
Bosnia and Herzegovina
119 11
Slovenia 54 25
Russian Federation
120 12
Turkey 59 26
Uzbekistan
138 13
Kyrgyz Republic 68 27
Ukraine
145 14
Kazakhstan 70
Tajikistan
159

8. Is this the same for women entrepreneurs?

9. Top 30 on the ease of doing business, 2009
1. Singapore
16. Saudi Arabia
2. New Zealand
17. Sweden
3. United States
18. Bahrain
4. Hong Kong, China
19. Belgium
5. Denmark
20. Malaysia
6. United Kingdom
21. Switzerland
7. Ireland
22. Estonia
8. Canada
23. Korea
9. Australia
24. Mauritius
10. Norway
25. Germany
11. Iceland
26. Netherlands
12. Japan
27. Austria
13. Thailand
28. Lithuania
14. Finland
29. Latvia
15. Georgia
30. Israel

10. …and higher shares of female entrepreneurs and women in the labor force
There are more women entrepreneurs when the ease of doing business is greater
Female Entrepreneurs (% of entrepreneurs)
Message #7: Higher rankings associated with higher shares of female entrepreneurs and employees.
Easiest
Most difficult
Countries ranked by ease of doing business, quintiles
Source: Doing Business database, ILO

11. What has been the impact on women?

12. There are few women at the top in private businesses

13. Occupational Segregation
Source: LiTS Data

14. The consequences are Women owned firms are
smaller scaled operations in terms of sales revenues but …
… they generate more profit per unit of sales revenue
have higher returns to scale which means that women would gain more from increasing their firm size
This could be because women are
capital constrained
concentrated in industries with small firm size

15. Closing Remarks

16. Questions we are trying to tackle are ….
Why do women concentrate in certain sectors (services rather than manufacturing)?
Is the capital constraint self-imposed or does it reflect bias in the financial system?
Do lower entrepreneurship rates among women reflect personal choice or other constraints?
What encourages women to take the step into entrepreneurship?

17. Analytical tools WEF Global Gender Gap Report WBG Enterprise Surveys
Business Environment and Enterprise Performance Survey (BEEPS)
WBG Doing Business Project
Doing Business Gender Law Library
WEF GGG Report: Global Gender Gap Index 2007 was the result of collaboration between WEF and faculty at Harvard University and University of California, Berkeley, and covers 128 countries. Looks at gaps, not absolute figures. Looks at four areas: economic participation and opportunity, political empowerment, educational attainment and health and survival. Report meant to serve as a framework for the WEF’s Gender Parity Group, which will be composed of 100 influential leaders (50 men and 50 women), as well as a bench-marking tool for policy makers. Sweden (1), Norway (2), Finland (3) and Iceland (4) once again top the rankings in the latest Report. All countries in the top 20 made progress relative to their scores last year – some more so than others. Latvia (13) and Lithuania (14) made the biggest advances among the top 20, gaining six and seven places respectively, driven by smaller gender gaps in labour force participation and wages.
BEEPS: joint initiative of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the World Bank Group (the World Bank). Feedback from enterprises on the state of the private sector in countries, from interviews with firms in manufacturing and services. BEEPS will re-visit previously interviewed establishments in order to compile comprehensive panel data so researchers can track progress. The 2005 round of the BEEPS consisted of 9,655 interviews
Doing Business can be thought of as a compilation of indicators about various government policies, rules, and procedures, while The BEEPS can be thought of as a compilation of indicators about what firms are saying about the ways that government policies, rules, and procedures are implemented in practice. E.g. the formal rules and procedures may appear benign, while non-transparent implementation may cause firms considerable difficulty. So important to analyse second generation issues of implementation etc.
The World Bank Enterprise Surveys began in capture business perceptions on the biggest obstacles to enterprise growth, the relative importance of various constraints to increasing employment and productivity, and the effects of a country’s business environment on its international competitiveness. Country surveys are performed approximately every three years for most countries. The survey is completed by managing directors, accountants, human resource managers and other company staff. The Doing Business data are based on the knowledge of a few experts in each country for a narrow set of questions whereas the Enterprise Survey data are based on answers to several hundred questions by hundreds of firms in each country. Covers 27 European and Central Asian countries.
The Doing Business Gender Law Library is a collection of national legal provisions impacting women's economic status in 181 economies. Was launched by WB and IFC October 10, The database facilitates comparative analysis of legislation, serves as a resource for research, and contributes to reforms. Laws are searchable by six Doing Business indicators, 15 additional categories which distinguish between men and women, and legislation type.

18. The End

19. More women work in the public sector

20. …though high proportion of women work full-time

21. Business Friendly Regulation Leads to More Registered Businesses and Start-ups
Business entry
(new firms in % of registered firms)
Business density
(registered firms per capita)
Message #1: As reforms pick up more business start up. Georgia now has 15 registered business out of 100 (like Malaysia). Note: above trends are global, not ECA specific (same for next slide)
Easiest
Most difficult
Easiest
Most difficult
Countries ranked by ease of doing business, quintiles
Countries ranked by ease of doing business, quintiles
Source: Doing Business database