When a captain steers her ship, she is not looking down at the waves in front of her or even a few hundred meters ahead - she looks out on the horizon and focuses on her goal. At night, for centuries, captains have used the North Star to guide them to their destination

The aim of the Gender-Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index (GEDI) is to identify the entrepreneurial North Star, the destination on the economic growth horizon fostering high potential female entrepreneurship.

There is a growing understanding – among policy makers, entrepreneurship support organizations and entrepreneur associations – that laws, policies, support structures as well as cultural mores and individual motivations all form an interwoven support structure for enterprise development. Further, there is an increasing realization that there is a gender dimension to these factors; gender-blind business support measures do not support women’s enterprise development to the extent that they support men-owned firms. Focusing efforts specifically on women’s enterprise development, and measuring their impact, is of growing interest.

The Gender-GEDI is the world's first diagnostic tool that comprehensively identifies and analyzes the conditions that foster high potential female entrepreneurship development. This initial 17-country pilot study provides key insights across several regions and levels of national economic development. Female entrepreneurship at large includes a vast array of activities – ranging from petty market traders and shopkeepers to biochemical company start-ups.

The Gender-GEDI focuses on a specific subset of female entrepreneurs, which we refer to as 'high potential', female entrepreneurs: women business owners who own and operate businesses that are 'innovative, market expanding and export oriented'. Through their entrepreneurial activities, high-potential female entrepreneurs not only contribute to improving their own economic welfare but to the economic and social fabric of society through job creation, innovative products, processes, and services, and cross border trade. By focusing on the gender differentiated conditions that often affect 'high potential' female entrepreneurship development, The Gender-GEDI brings a new systematic approach that allows for cross-country comparison and benchmarking.

Globally, women and men are not on a 'level playing field' in terms of access to resources, which continues to impact women's ability to start and grow businesses. The Gender-GEDI focuses specifically on identifying and assessing the 'gendered' nature of factors that, if addressed, could allow high potential female entrepreneurs an equal chance to flourish.

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