Women’s Economic Empowerment is Good for Business
We partner with businesses to create opportunities that benefit women and advance commercial goals. When women succeed, businesses do too.
The Untapped Power of Women in Agriculture and Food Systems
Women are essential to food systems—as farmers, entrepreneurs, processors, suppliers, retailers, employees, and business leaders.
Yet across value chains, women remain:
- Underserved by markets
- Excluded from opportunities
- Overlooked as drivers of business growth
Women are Essential to Agribusiness: The Numbers
Agricultural labor force
Retail trade workers
Food-processing and food-service
Off-farm agrifood-system workers
Source: FAO. 2023. The status of women in agrifood systems – Overview. Rome.
Our Vision for Stronger Food Systems
TechnoServe works with partners around the world to build food systems that are fair, sustainable, and healthy. Achieving that vision requires a thriving business sector and ensuring women can fully contribute to and benefit from its growth.
FAIR
Broad-based and prosperous
Women can participate fully as farmers, entrepreneurs, suppliers, employees, and business leaders, and benefit from the value they help create.
SUSTAINABLE
Regenerative and resilient
Businesses and producers have the capacity and incentives to adopt practices that protect natural resources and strengthen resilience.
HEALTHY
Safe and nutritious
Businesses help make nutritious, safe food more available and accessible to the communities they serve.
Women Drive Stronger Agrifood Systems and Agribusinesses
Investment just doesn’t benefit businesses; it also benefits women, their families and communities.
INCREASE PRODUCTIVITY
When women gain access to skills, inputs, and services, they improve productivity and strengthen the performance of farms and enterprises.
IMPROVE PRODUCT QUALITY
When women receive the training and resources they need, they help businesses deliver more consistent, higher-quality products.
STRENGTHEN SUPPLY CHAINS
When businesses invest in women as suppliers, entrepreneurs, and employees, they build more reliable and resilient supply chains.
EXPAND MARKET REACH
Women influence household purchasing decisions and represent an important customer base, helping businesses reach new markets and grow sales.
IMPROVE EFFICIENCY
Designing products, services, and sourcing models that work for women helps businesses reach more producers and remove barriers to participation.
How Women Farmers and Entrepreneurs Turn Opportunity Into Measurable Results
Golebilemang Kgosintwa
Poultry farmer in Botswana
“I got so excited when I saw the training starting to work… The skills and knowledge I acquired started bringing in more clients. I was able to get the clients to agree with my pricing. It gave me the courage to expand my business more.”
Suelene Silva
Dairy Farmer, Brazil
“The knowledge we gained — that’s something no one can take away. Since we have a teenage son, we can now pass that knowledge on to him. I believe what will truly remain on this farm is the knowledge we gained.”
Veronika Wanjiku
Duka owner in Kangemi, Nairobi
“We came together and formed a group in our region and have begun table banking. The money we have been contributing, we have a vision to invest in a wholesale business or open a supermarket, which can enable us to grow our business.”
Bernarda Mauricio
Leader in the agribusiness Jitomateros Mazahuas, Mexico
“Before, I planted crops to eat. Today, what my farm produces is my income.”
Farizana Hawa
Farmer and community leader, Mozambique
“I identify with causes that support and empower women, and I came up with the idea of doing something for my community. I give them financial education techniques, and I always advise them to start a business with the money they earn.
Hamziya Aba Oli
Coffee farmer, Ethiopia
“When a buyer from Europe visits and shakes my hand, thanking me for my quality coffee, I go home and tell my family. They see that our work is valued across the world. This has changed how we see ourselves. We are not just poor farmers; we are skilled producers.”
Elsa Valoi
Grocery store owner, Mozambique
“What makes a business grow is knowing how to use your own money. It doesn’t matter if it’s a lot or a little. Using it means knowing how to allocate it: you need money to restock products, and you need money set aside for savings.”
Jacqueline Castillo
Farmer and cooperative leader, Mexico
“I started from nothing, learning with my hands in the soil. Now, I see what we’ve built. This business has changed my life, my family’s life, and the lives of so many others.”
Read our Studies
Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusiness (casa taf)
Developing a business case for
Women’s Economic Empowerment
This study presents a practical framework for assessing the costs and commercial returns of changes businesses make to expand women’s participation and economic opportunity. Through examples from three agribusinesses, it shows how companies and their partners can identify relevant investments, select indicators, and develop stronger evidence about how women’s economic empowerment can support business performance.
Women in business 2.0
Understanding Rural Women’s Financial Behaviors
This learning brief explores how rural women in Mozambique manage money and identifies opportunities for financial service providers to help them invest in their farms and businesses through more accessible, relevant, and commercially viable services.
Implementing
Inclusive Growth Strategies (iigs)
Unlocking Business Resilience and Shared
Prosperity by Investing in Women
This learning brief examines how the IIGS program partnered with 32 food-processing SMEs to expand opportunities for women while pursuing commercial growth. It shares the program’s approach, business examples, results, and practical recommendations for strengthening supply chains, creating better jobs, reaching new customers, and improving access to finance.
Women in business 2.0
Reaching Rural Women as a Customer Segment
Women’s success in food systems depends on financial services that reflect the realities of rural markets. This guide helps financial service providers assess the commercial and operational conditions needed to reach rural women and develop inclusive, viable services that support investment in their farms and businesses.
Commercial Agriculture for Smallholders and Agribusiness (casa taf)
Delivering Women’s Economic Empowerment Through Agribusiness Partnerships
Investing in women can strengthen agribusinesses while expanding economic opportunities for women in their supply chains. This learning paper draws on CASA’s experience to show how agribusinesses can identify opportunities to invest in women, align women’s economic empowerment with business priorities, and build the evidence needed to develop and scale commercially sustainable approaches.
Why Agribusinesses Invest in Women
Zenny Mumba
Co-founder of Wachi Milling, miller from Zambia
“Connecting with women is what’s best for our business. It will help us grow; it is best for our production, and it is also the best for our raw material acquisition… when we are connected to women, they help us grow our best operations, and we empower them in their own businesses.”
Eneyew Zeleke
Deputy General Manager of Dina Food Processing, flour miller from Ethiopia
“Before, we didn’t have any idea about these issues, so we got training and immediately put it into action… They brought a change in attitude, production, and fortification improvements, and I can say that now we are a major buyer of grains in this area”
Lamwanza
Co-founder of Lakefarms in Zambia, a cooperative supporting women in their community
“Everywhere you go, it’s almost the same problems you encounter: poverty, women not having access to markets for their fish, so in our plans is to go far into the remote islands so we can reach more fishermen and actually train them on sustainable fishing methods”
Dr. Rachael Adeyemi
CEO of Nutrients Innovation Tech Limited, Nigeria
“Be a visionary. Have an ambitious goal that can drive you to work toward realizing healthy, nutritious food systems for the good of society.”
Justina Opit
CEO and founder of Omega Foods, Zambia
“I want to see myself changing the lives of women and being able to help them dream beyond their villages because they can be able to do a lot”
Will Warshauer
CEO of TechnoServe
“The microretail sector is critical for job creation; it’s creating jobs for women and young people. In Kenya, 60% of the owners of microretail are women and 70% are young people”
Emma Onyacha
Pack house manager, Six Square Limited, Kenya
“We have reduced our waste and rejects; we have ensured low-income earners have access to nutritious food at an affordable price, and also our farmers are maximizing their profits from their outputs. (Almost all of them are women).”
Invest in Women. Strengthen Agribusiness.
TechnoServe helps businesses and partners identify where investing in women can improve commercial performance while advancing women’s economic empowerment.
