Women led businesses continue to suffer from underinvestment due, among other reasons, to gender discrimination, limited ability to attract investments (as a result of their smaller size and location in slow growing sectors of the economy) and insufficient financial services tailored to the needs of women entrepreneurs.

The research investigates characteristics of women-led small and growingbusinesses (SGBs) in Latin America and the Caribbean Region, explores barriers faced by the entrepreneur with an emphasis on the reason for underinvestment in the 5,000-50,000USD investment range, and identifies capacity development services provided to this segment. Associated benefits and negative impacts of women’s economic empowerment were also analyzed.