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Road to Istanbul
Policymakers and Experts to Share Best Practices and Develop
Strategies to Spur Women’s Entrepreneurship Globally
Cindy Williams (left), head of the women’s office at The
White House, discussed US best practices for Istanbul
with Tsunami Global BrainTrust members Julie Weeks,
NWBC, and Susan Bari, President of WBENC (right), plus
Tsunami co-founders Linda Tarr-Whelan and Virginia
Littlejohn, who are not pictured.
In increasing numbers, countries around the world
are trying to spur women’s entrepreneurship as a
way to create jobs and grow their economies. To
accelerate learning, the OECD is hosting a
Ministerial Conference on June 4-5, 2004, in
Istanbul, where ministers from 85 countries will
look at women’s entrepreneurship as one of four
strategies for growing their economies.
In parallel with the Ministerial, the OECD is also
hosting an “Accelerating Women’s
Entrepreneurship” Best Practices Forum in Istanbul
from June 3-6, in partnership with Project Tsunami
and Turkey’s Kagider Association.
This Forum will bring together women
entrepreneurial experts from developed, developing
and transition economies, as well as international
institutions and corporations, to develop strategies
to address this challenge. Participating experts will
include policymakers, academics, NGO leaders,
government program managers, corporations that
serve the women entrepreneurial market, and
women entrepreneurs themselves.
In addition, officials from the OECD, the
International Labor Organization, European Union,
the World Bank, regional development banks, UN
agencies, national development agencies, and
leading foundations have been invited to participate
in this by-invitation-only Best Practices Forum.
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In May, experts will participate in an online forum,
“Virtual Istanbul,” where they will evaluate
recommendations from previous OECD women
entrepreneurial conferences (Paris, 1997 and
2000), and discuss the progress that has been
made. They will also share resources, expertise,
recommendations and best practices. Some
experts will then meet in Istanbul from June 3-6 at
the Best Practices Forum (with most activities
taking place from June 4-6). Papers will be
presented, both virtually and face-to-face, but the
emphasis in Istanbul will be on experts sharing
their expertise and best practices, rather than on
a “panel of talking heads.”
Topics discussed online, and in plenary sessions
and small expert roundtables, will include:
The catalytic role of research, data and statistics
about women’s entrepreneurship,
Access to debt and equity capital,
Entrepreneurial education and training,
Access to networks and to corporate,
government and international markets,
Technology as an entrepreneurial enabler, and
The importance of advocacy and constituency
building for women’s entrepreneurial success.
Most importantly, “Accelerating Women’s
Entrepreneurship” will focus on actionable
outcomes:
Strategies for the ongoing development,
identification and sharing of templates, models,
best practices and emerging practices, including
metrics for measuring the economic impact (GDP,
jobs, etc.) and return on investment from
supporting the growth of women’s
entrepreneurship,
Creation of virtual and face-to-face models and
mechanisms for leveraging resources, such as
clearinghouses, virtual knowledge networks,
collaborative funding models, and mechanisms for
matching strong programs with resources, and
Strategies and mechanisms to facilitate
sustainability and to spur growth along the
business continuum.
To find out about the possibility of being invited
to attend this Best Practices Forum as an expert,
please send a copy of your bio or CV and a
description of your expertise to
info@projecttsunami.org.
Business matching and expo opportunities may
also be available. For more information about all
these OECD Istanbul activities, see Tsunami’s
website, www.projecttsunami.org.
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Women Trading Globally
The Global Banking Alliance for Women–an
outgrowth of two previous OECD women
entrepreneurial conferences in Paris–is
hosting a women entrepreneurial forum and
trade mission in Vancouver from March 31-
April 2, and in Toronto on April 5. The
objective is to spur the economic
empowerment of women trading globally
among the Global Banking Alliance
countries of Australia, Canada, Ireland, New
Zealand and the US. For details, see:
www.womentradingglobally.com
About Tsunami
Project Tsunami, Incorporated
(www.projecttsunami.org), is a non-profit
corporation based in the United States that
is a global accelerator for women’s
entrepreneurship. It was designed to help
create a tidal wave of economic
opportunities in the US and abroad, by
identifying and connecting key women
entrepreneurial leaders, facilitating the
sharing of best practices across countries,
and helping to link effective programs with
resources. It uses 21st Century technology
to make a clearinghouse of resources and
best practices available to its powerful
global network of leaders and multipliers,
who then disseminate this information
widely to their members and stakeholders.
The organization began its work with a
major seed grant from the Ewing Marion
Kauffman Foundation, which funds
innovative programs that foster
entrepreneurship.
Tsunami is an outgrowth of two major
international conferences on women-owned
small and medium enterprises put on by
the Organization for Economic Cooperation
and Development (OECD) in Paris in 1997
and 2000, for which Tsunami’s CEO Virginia
Littlejohn served as Senior Advisor. Project
Tsunami influences policies, practices and
programs that expand the WE sector by
concentrating on 6 core strategies:
1) WE research, data and statistics;
2) Entrepreneurial education and training;
3) Access to finance;
4) Access to networks and to corporate,
government and international markets;
5) Technology as an entrepreneurial
enabler; and
6) Constituency building and advocacy.
We are also analyzing how these areas
impact high-growth women entrepreneurs.
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