Sub Saharan Africa Gender on the Agenda for Shared Growth Amanda Ellis Doing Business Gender Manager

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Sub Saharan Africa-Gender on the Agenda for
Shared GrowthAmanda EllisDoing Business Gender
Manager Lead Gender SpecialistWorld Bank
GroupAccra, Ghana. November 2007
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Doing Business indicators
2007
2008
2009

• Starting a business
• Dealing with licenses
• Employing workers
• Registering property
• Enforcing contracts
• Getting credit
• Trading across borders
• Protecting investors
• Paying taxes
• Closing a business

• Update of 2007
• Add 3 countries
• Reformers Club
• - 11 case studies

• Add Not paying bribes
• Add Using infrastructure
• Research program on regulations and business
  opportunities for women

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Business friendly regulation leads to more
registered businesses and start-ups
Business density (registered firms per capita)
Business entry (new firms in of registered
firms)
Easiest
Most difficult
Most difficult
Easiest
Countries ranked by ease of doing business,
quintiles
Countries ranked by ease of doing business,
quintiles
Source Doing Business database
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and higher shares of female entrepreneurs and
women in the labor force
Female Entrepreneurs ( of entrepreneurs)
Female unemployment ( of male unemployment)
Most difficult
Most difficult
Easiest
Easiest
Countries ranked by ease of doing business,
quintiles
Source Doing Business database, ILO
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Top 30 on the Ease of Doing Business 2007
0.33 x 0.5
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West Africa had the highest number positive
reforms
Number of reforms
Benin Burkina Faso Cote dIvoire Gambia Ghana
Guinea-Bissau Mali Mauritania Niger Nigeria
Sierra Leone
Mauritius Mozambique Lesotho Madagascar South
Africa Seychelles
Kenya Djibouti Rwanda Uganda Burundi Malawi
Tanzania
DR Congo
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albeit with regional differences
Intensity of Reforms
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Ghana top reformer in 2006/7
2006
Time reduced from 169 to 34 days
Procedure eliminated Registration of deed and
land commission
2007
Assessment and payment of Stamp duty
Submit application for Title Certificate
Preparation of transfer document
Doing Business 2008
9
Most complex regulations in Africa
Average Rank, Ease of Doing Business
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Sub-Saharan Africa passed on the pace of reform
Countries with at least one positive reform, in
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Top 10 reformers in Africa
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African countries reformed in a wide variety of
areas
Dealing with licenses
Starting a business
Trading across borders
Paying taxes
Enforcing contract
Dealing with licenses
Protecting investors
Getting credit legal rights
Getting credit information
Closing a business
Employing workers
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Starting a business can be even harder for women

• DRC different rules
• Uganda women disproportionately disadvantaged
  by cumbersome procedures (less mobile, fewer
  contacts, seen as soft targets by officials)

Source Kirkpatrick and Lawson, 2004.
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Women 3x more likely to be informal
Source Removing Barriers to Enterprise Formation
in Liberia Gender Analysis, 2007
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Becoming a top reformer by using good practices
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Stronger legal rights, better credit information
more credit
Private Credit as a share of GDP
Private Credit as a share of GDP
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African women entrepreneurs face additional
obstacles

• Custom law often prevails over civil law, meaning
  women have little land ownership
• In collateral based banking systems this means
  less access to credit

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Banking profile in Tanzania
Source Finmark Trust 2007
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Africa is the toughest place to get credit
women especially unable to leverage excellent
microfinance repayment rates
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Top 10 reformers in property registration
3 Top reformers in Africa
On average the top 10 reformers cut the time and
cost by a third.
Ghana Niger Burundi AND Reforms for Women in
LESOTHO where married women can now transfer
property)
2006
2007
Doing Business 2008
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Highest tax rates still in Africa
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Women entrepreneurs are especially affected
Women perceive tax and customs as greater
constraints to business growth
Source Ellis et al. Gender and Economic Growth
in Kenya, 2007
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Taking the best practice in Africa Africana
is 8

• The hypothetical country of the United States of
  Africa has the ease of
• Mauritius entry (8)
• Kenyas licensing (9)
• Ugandas employing workers (11)
• Ghanas property registration (26)
• Botswanas access to credit (26)
• South Africas investors Protection (9)
• Mauritius tax payments (11)
• Cape Verde trade (51)
• Tanzanias contracts Enforcement (35)
• Namibias bankruptcy procedures (47)

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20
16
13
8
3
1
Source Doing Business database (using a
countrys top performance per indicator)
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Doing Business/WBG Gender Action Plan partnership

• 2 year research program promotes shared growth,
  supports MDG 3
• 3 key components
• Identify laws regulations that discriminate
  against women
• Global database
• Investigate which reforms on business regulations
  have largest impact on opportunities for women
• Prepare case studies on women entrepreneurs
  (their successes challenges)

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Doing Business/WBG Gender Action Plan partnership

• THANK YOU to Doing Business Gender donors
  Australia, Canada, Germany, Iceland, Norway, UK
• www.doingbusiness.org
• www.worldbank.org/gender
• www.ifc.org/gender
• CONTACT aellis_at_worldbank.org