In time to celebrate International Women’s Day and Women’s History Month, Mary Kay released a special report— “Advancing Women’s Entrepreneurship: from Commitment to Action.”

The report outlines the advances Mary Kay has made since begining its Women’s Entrepreneurship Accelerator (WEA) in partnership with six United Nations agencies.

Deborah Gibbins, Chief Operating Officer at Mary Kay, comments:

“Through the Women’s Entrepreneurship Accelerator, we have created a robust platform that not only supports but celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit of women globally. Our goal is to empower five million women by 2030, and we’re well on our way. We’ve engaged over 600,000 women in our programs and activities so far, and 2024 will prove to be another historic year.”

In 2019, Mary Kay co-founded WEA to promote women’s global entrepreneurship and economic participation. The WEA multi-stakeholder partnership addresses core challenges women face as entrepreneurs and takes a unique approach in its global reach to assist these women. 

Mary Kay embraces a holistic approach to women’s empowerment providing access to education, networks, capital, advocacy, policy and markets.

This year’s report details various flagship programs and impact statistics of WEA.  

Notable achievements include:

• Launching the Women’s Entrepreneurship Regional EXPO and satellite events in Central Asia and Europe. These events were co-organized with 33 local partners.

• Reducing poverty rates in an SDG pilot village project in rural China.

• Successfully implementing a variety of monitoring and training programs around the world and online such as the Women’s Entrepreneurship Certificate Program. 

• Conducting women entrepreneurship research for policy recommendations for gender equality in the Latin American region. 

• The WEA Digital Innovation Challenge for Women Entrepreneurs received 250 applications from women-led startups across 54 countries. 

 
Mary Kay also noted that its promotion of gender-responsive procurement and investment (GRPI) has made significant contributions to women’s economic empowerment and participation.
 
For the full 2024 special report visit Mary Kay’s website. 

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