African Policy Dialogue Mali: A New Dawn for Women Entrepreneurship in Mali
On the 25th of November 2021, the conference 'African Policy Dialogue: A New Dawn for Women Entrepreneurship in Mali' took place in Bamako, Mali.
On the 25th of November 2021, the conference ‘African Policy Dialogue: A New Dawn for Women Entrepreneurship in Mali’ took place in Bamako, Mali. Gathering over 100 participants from the women entrepreneur ecosystem in Mali, this event was the final activity of the African Policy Dialogue Mali, an initiative of the INCLUDE knowledge platform implemented by NABC together with the Mali Investment Promotion Agency (API Mali) and the IHEM Institute for Advanced Studies in Management (Institut des Hautes Etudes de Management).
Focused on increasing women entrepreneurship in Mali, the African Policy Dialogue aimed to create a platform for dialogue between stakeholders involved in the field of women entrepreneurship. This included Malian women entrepreneurs in formal and informal sectors, leaders of the private sector, political decision-makers, technical partners, researchers and practitioners.
To initiate a favourable change for women entrepreneurs in Mali, throughout October and September, 3 APD Mali workshops were held in Bamako. During the first workshop, 21 participants exchanged their experience and point of view on the obstacles to female entrepreneurship in the formal sector. The second workshop served as a space for participants to exchange their experience and point of view on driving a positive change from the actions of female entrepreneurship stakeholders. The third and final workshop focused on discussing ways of creating synergy between the different stakeholders in the female entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The concluding conference brought together all the insights of the APD Mali activities and workshops to invite broader societal engagement with the topic and to put women entrepreneurs in the spotlight. The conference will enable the translation of the APD findings into policy recommendations and a long-term strategy.
A New Dawn for Women Entrepreneurship in Mali
After an opening word by Mr Mahmoud Ould Mohamed, Minister of Industry and Commerce in Mali, four-panel discussions on education, finance, support structures and women in the agri sector were held in French and in Bambara, allowing real interactions amongst the panellists and the audience.
During the closing ceremony, the outcome of the 3 workshops held earlier in September and October and short-term recommendations to promote women entrepreneurship in Mali were officially handed over to the representative of the Minister of Industrie and Commerce, who in turn declared to share this document with the four other ministries referred to in the APD Mali policy brief.
Mrs Marina Diboma, a member of the Include Platform, through her closing word, thanked the APD team for a fruitful event with a high turnout of women entrepreneurs in the audience and invited them to collaborate and complement each other in their activities as opposed to compete against each other.
2Scale and Oxfam joined forces during the conference and contributed to a larger outreach of the conference by broadcasting the event live on several platforms and by enabling the active participation of women entrepreneurs from rural areas.
More impressions of the APD Mali activities and Conference: