UN Women and Ant Foundation launch “Together Digital” to empower women entrepreneurs in the digital economy

UN Women and Ant Foundation, today jointly announced the launch of “Together Digital”, a five-year programme to support women-led micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) and empower them to participate and thrive in the digital economy.

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“The Together Digitalprogramme will leverage UN Women’s vast expertise in women’s economic empowerment, as well as the Ant Foundation’s wide network and track record in entrepreneurship and digital empowerment,” said Sarah Knibbs, Deputy Regional Director of UN Women Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. “We are pleased to enter this partnership with the Ant Foundation, with whom we share a mutual interest in the digital empowerment of women.”

“Entrepreneurial spirit is about being positive and resilient, solving problems and achieving dreams. Women entrepreneurs are always facing greater challenges and having an entrepreneurial spirit is essential to overcome them,” said Sabrina Peng, Executive Vice Chairwoman of Ant Foundation. “Together with UN Women, we hope to expand the development opportunities available to women entrepreneurs and support them to reach their full potential on a global scale.”

According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, Women entrepreneurs account for up to a third of all businesses operating worldwide.¹ However, UN Women has found that the majority of those in developing and transitioning economies stay confined to small businesses often operating in the informal economy.² The World Bank notes that in 2021, women make up 54 percent of those financially excluded from the digital economy, and women entrepreneurs also face more difficulties than men in accessing markets and finance.³

Against this backdrop, the Together Digital programme aims to help narrow the gender gap in access to digital technology, and to support the digital empowerment of women. Through training, access to markets and resources such as funding and knowledge exchange opportunities, the programme will support women entrepreneurs in MSMEs to establish, maintain and expand their businesses in the digital era.

The programme has started projects in China and Indonesia that will run for 27 months. It will also establish a regional network of thought leaders in the digital sector, including three main areas of work: (i) enhance the capacity of women entrepreneurs in China to access markets and financial services; (ii) improve the capacity of women entrepreneurs from MSMEs in Indonesia through training and mentoring and increase access to funding opportunities; and (iii) establish a cross-cutting regional network of champions and thought leaders to facilitate knowledge exchange, skills transfer, and mentorship opportunities for the promotion of digital empowerment of women in Asia and the Pacific region.

At the regional level, a network within the Together Digital programme will convene champions and thought leaders from the technology, innovation, and finance sectors to facilitate knowledge exchange, skills transfer, and mentorship opportunities to support the digital empowerment of women. Network members will be recruited under the three pillars of Leadership, Finance, and Innovation. With UN Women’s support, they will make programmatic, policy-driven, philanthropic, or advocacy-based commitments to support women’s digital empowerment.

In China, the programme will equip women entrepreneurs from MSMEs with capacities to better access gender-sensitive entrepreneurial and digital skills development, markets and financial services. Smriti Aryal, Country Representative of the UN Women China office stated: “UN Women China is pleased to join hands with the Ant Foundation to support women-led MSMEs, a driving force that should not be neglected in the digital economy. China’s 14^th Five-Year Plan provides us with a tremendous opportunity towards bring transformative changes in the lives of women and girls. This is part of our commitment to support the country’s efforts to strengthen women entrepreneurship and foster inclusive high-quality development. Piloting in Chengdu and Changsha, we will also join efforts with strategic partners to establish two women-led MSME promotion centres to enhance peer-to-peer exchange opportunities in the country and abroad.”

In Indonesia, the programme will provide entrepreneurial and digital skills training opportunities to women owners and entrepreneurs of ultra-micro, micro, and small businesses. Piloting the programme initially in greater Jakarta and Lombok, UN Women Indonesia will work in close partnership with the public and private sector, UN sister agencies and civil society to strengthen an ecosystem for some of the most disadvantaged women entrepreneurs, including those with disabilities, to access skills development and seed funding, and better access to markets. The programme aims to strengthen women’s agency and entrepreneurial capacity building as part of the national recovery plan for COVID-19.

“Technology is a great enabler providing growing opportunities for women to be economically active, particularly in this increasingly digital world,” said Jamshed Kazi, UN Women Indonesia Representative and Liaison to ASEAN. “However, the persistent digital gender divide has hindered women from benefiting and participating meaningfully in the digital economy."

“Through the partnership with Ant Foundation, we will empower more women by equipping them with the knowledge and skills necessary to adapt with existing challenges, while at the same time providing access to opportunities that open new pathways in the digital economy. This is well aligned with one of the priorities of Indonesia’s G20 Presidency, which UN Women looks forward to continue supporting.”

About UN Women

UN Women is the United Nations entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women. A global champion for women and girls, UN Women was established to accelerate progress on meeting their needs worldwide.

About Ant Foundation

Established by Ant Group in 2019, the Ant Foundation is a private charitable foundation approved by the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Civil Affairs. The Foundation promotes technological innovation to solve social problems and bring more inclusive developmental opportunities to communities around the world. The Ant Foundation’s five areas of focus are: digital inclusion, green sustainable development, rural revitalization, innovation, and emergency and disaster relief.

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1} Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (2021), “2020/21 Women’s Entrepreneurship Report: Thriving through Crisis”, https://www.gemconsortium.org/report/gem-202021-womens-entrepreneurship-report-thriving-through-crisis
² UN Women (2020), “From insights to action: Gender equality in the wake of COVID-19”, https://www.unwomen.org/en/digital-library/publications/2020/09/gender-equality-in-the-wake-of-covid-19. See also UN Women (2017) “Women in informal economy”, https://www.unwomen.org/en/news/in-focus/csw61/women-in-informal-economy
³ World Bank, (2022) “The Global Findex Database 2021 – Financial Inclusion, Digital Payments, and Resilience in the Age of AOVID-19” p.31., https://www.worldbank.org/en/publication/globalfindex/Report#sec1

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Contact information

Media Inquiries

UN Women
Zhao Wenting
Communications Officer, UN Women China
wenting.zhao@unwomen.org

Advocacy and Communications Analyst, UN Women Indonesia
radhiska.anggiana@unwomen.org

Ant Foundation
Wang Lingling
Deputy Secretary General
press_inquiry@antfoundation.org.cn