Recognizing the important role women business owners play in emerging markets, and the fact that there remain systemic gender gaps in business performance when comparing women-owned businesses to their men-owned counterparts, Partnering for Innovation (P4I) launched a series of women’s entrepreneurship awards starting in 2018. These awards paired five women-owned enterprises with business development service (BDS) providers to deliver tailored, hands-on assistance to improve their capacity, scale their operations, and support long-term growth.

This study explores the impact of these awards on the supported businesses as well as captures key lessons learned from supporting women entrepreneurs through BDS.