WIN: Women IN Business

Project description / objective

To economically empower women in Mozambique by enabling their participation in the economy. To do this, we support the private and public sector to test new business practices or ways of working that enable them to sustainably reach women as potential customers, workers, suppliers and business partners.

Market systems focus

Financial services (access to)

Increasing women’s access to financial services by helping financial institutions to create tailored solutions for women as customers and sales agents (e.g digital savings products, digital micro-loans, more inclusive mobile money/agency banking model) and increase their financial education (through campaigns and embedded services).

Green energy equipment / products

Improving women’s access to value-added equipment by working with companies to improve last mile distribution models and marketing, especially in the green energy sector (solar home systems and improved cooking stoves).

Management services, tools & information

Many women micro-entrepreneurs do not have access to business management tools and training. WIN is working with traditional (national professional training authority) and new training providers (content producers through social media) to help entrepreneurs integrate better business practices and soft skills.

Rules and norms about women-led enterprises

WIN aims to transform how women’s entrepreneurship is presented and perceived in Mozambique, to change social and household-level expectations that frame what women can achieve, namely through media. WIN will also use social media as a channel to educate women in entrepreneurship as well as to inspire them to launch, grow and diversify their businesses.

Retail distribution / wholesale supply

Access to quality, convenient products
Poor information flows and weak, fragmented transport systems along with reduced mobility, inhibit the efficiency of women retailers. Distributors typically lack strategies for reaching the informal sector, where most women micro-entrepreneurs operate. WIN works with distributors to better target this segment as well as include more women in their last mile distribution model.

Programme interventions

Financial services (access to)

Banco Futuro
Supporting a micro finance bank to upgrade its approach to financial literacy and business education to improve repayment rates, client loyalty and business efficiency.

MZ Nyeleti (M-Pesa super-agent/ provides float to M-Pesa agents)
Supporting MZ Nyeleti to become more gender-aware in their business operations and to recruit more women agents as customers, promoting their financial inclusion and increasing their income.

Africa Works (AW), micro finance institution
Supporting AW to incorporate mobile money repayments and a social performance indicator system, to improve efficiency and sustainability of business and increase financial inclusion of underserved populations including women.

M-Pesa
Supporting M-Pesa, the leading provider of mobile money products in Mozambique, to improve its savings, loans and payments products and operations in order to better meet the needs -and reach - of more women.

Access Bank (commercial bank in Mozambique)
Contribute towards women-inclusive strategy and communication (marketing and education), namely by supporting the expansion of financial agent networks to new locations and recommending the recruitment of women as agents to increase their female client base.

DADTCO (aggregates smallholder cassava produce for processing)
Investment in increasing smallholder farmers’ access to mobile money and financial education. In this partnership farmers were trained in financial education since Dadtcos is in the process of migrating paying farmers through mobile money instead of cash.

Moza Banco
A market study identified the barriers facing women's use of ATM's and point of sale (POS) transactions in rural areas. A radio campaign was designed providing financial education and presenting the bank's products.

Green energy equipment / products

BRILHO (technical support on demand activation and gender seal within the Ministry of Energy)
BRILHO is a Sida and FCDO-funded programme promoting access to renewable energy for off-grid population in Mozambique.

• Delivery of gender tools workshops - How to deliver gender awareness training; How to create a gender equality policy; and How to conduct a gender analysis - for BRILHO and its grantee companies.
• Technical support for 3-5 companies supported by BRILHO to implement gender responsive practices in their operations. 
• Development of a gender seal within the Ministry of Energy

ENGIE energy access (company dedicated to panel sales)
Support to engage more women within the company as sales agents earning commission by improving the company’s training and introducing new recruitment strategies and commissions for supervisors who recruit women agents.

Management services, tools & information

ANEP (national vocational education authority)
Support increasing women's access to information, education and tools that can help them understand and implement business management techniques.
WIN supported the integration of entrepreneurship and gender modules in the national life skills curriculum - now all accredited technical and vocational schools at the national level deliver these modules to young women and men students.

ANIMA (content production house)
Co-creation of the radionovela Janete and social media platforms to promote access to technical and business information for women. The social media platforms are based on the main character from Janete and include content on entrepreneurship, financial education and gender norms. 

Rules and norms about women-led enterprises

TV Miramar
Support TV Miramar to broadcast thought-provoking content on gender and entrepreneurship including using polls and transmissiting key messages on these topics.

Escola do Agricultor
Support Panavideo to produce and broadcast a TV, radio and IVR (interactive voice response) show focused on agriculture practices, with a gender lens. Further support provided to find funders for subsequent shows.

TV Sucesso
Production of a segment on a popular TV show showcasing female micro-entrepreneurs and business experts debating weekly business topics.

Fundaso
Production of a business skills competition where micro entrepreneurs will perform tasks in their businesses based on the training they will get. They will have to present what they have implemented in a TV segment to a jury. 

Retail distribution / wholesale supply

Nestlé, SA
Creation of new distribution channel (Magweva last mile) entirely made up of women micro-retailers for the sale of single-serve products of Nestlé.

Confederation of Economic Associations (CTA)
Conducting rapid research of the impact on informal women retailers, and holding a roundtable with main players in the distribution sector on how to develop the agro-industry sector to benefit women.
 

Notable results (systemic change, poverty impact)

Financial Services

WIN worked with various financial service institutions to better tailor products and services to the needs of low income women. Through activities such as - improved product design; improved training services delivered by the partner; financial literacy campaigns; migration of cash to digital loans - and other activities, WIN's impact had the following results: 

• 3,691 women with greater economic empowerment
• 1,178 women with increased incomes
• 13 per cent average income increase per woman 
• 2,828 women increased business performance
• 3,813 women adopted improved business practices
• 11,447 women accessed new information
• 117 new jobs created for women

In response to our different interventions M-Pesa sustained the Xitique product (M-Pesa’s savings product) with features proposed by WIN.

Green Energy Products

• 68 women accessed new information
• In response to our different interventions Fenix (now Engie) sustained community building initiatives and customer segmentation modules 

Business management services

The management tools vertical consisted of transmitting information about entrepreneurship with a gender lens on different platforms - e.g. inclusion of entrepreneurship and gender in the training modules of the national vocational life skills curriculum; in a radio soap opera and a spinoff of the radio soap opera through a facebook page. In response to these initiatives, WIN achieved the following impact: 

• 2,808 women with greater economic empowerment
• 10,796 women with increased business performance
• 8 per cent average income increase per woman 
• 48,568 women accessed new information
• 1,288 new jobs were created for women

In response to our different interventions ANEP sustained new modules in the national qualifications catalogue and they are being used by accredited training centres. ANIMA also sustained Janete with a commercial partnership with M-Pesa. 

Public perceptions / norms

In this vertical, the diversification of the broadcast platforms and the use of adequate schedules and formats allowed the programme to have a greater reach and impact, namely:

• 20,601 women with greater economic empowerment
• 16 per cent average income increase per woman 
• 22,824 women increased business performance
• 406,718 women accessed new information on business skills, financial education and gender norms
• 255 new jobs created for women

Retail Distribution

The Nestlé pilot of the Magwevas’ distribution model allowed women micro-entrepreneurs to increase their income and have a new source of income, namely:

• 46 women with greater economic empowerment
• 47 per cent average income increase per woman
• 73 new jobs created for women 

Furthermore, Nestlé has signed a second MoU with WIN to incorporate learning from the pilot (regarding the structure of the technical team, pricing structure and new distribution strategies) in an expansion phase to two new provinces.

Impact on poverty

Through WIN’s work in the various market systems (or “verticals”), WIN has been able to create lasting impact in the private (and public sector) by creating a business case for engaging more women as customers, sales agents, staff, distributors and others.  

As a result of its work, the programme has impacted a total of 27,146, contributing to a reduction of poverty for women micro-entrepreneurs in Mozambique.

• 27,146 women who have greater economic empowerment
• 20,272 women who increase their incomes
• 14 per cent average income increase per woman 
• 1,734 new jobs created for women

[uploaded January 2023]