Women Micro-Entrepreneurs Helping to Achieve the SDGs

WASHINGTON, August 29, 2018 – Today the global SDGs and Her Competition announced its inaugural 2018 winner chosen from over 1,200 entries. The contest -- co-sponsored by the World Bank Group, the Wharton School Zicklin Center, UNDP, and UN Women -- showcases women micro-entrepreneurs helping to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through their business operations.

The winning entry is Tanzania-based WomenChoice Industries owned by Lucy Odiwa. Her micro-enterprise seeks to empower women and girls in Tanzania by promoting safer menstrual health hygiene management (MHM), sharing information, products, and related services. The lack of MHM products often affects the ability of low-income women and girls to attend school and to work, Odiwa says. WomenChoice Industries produces reusable sanitary pads, post-partum maternity pads, child and adult diapers, and promotes MHM in schools to promote quality education for all, helping Tanzania to achieve SDG target 3.7 (Women’s health), and SDG target 4.1 (Girls’ access to education).

The second-place winner is Mukuru Clean Stoves of Kenya, owned by Charlot Magayi, which recycles waste metal to produce improved, reliable, and affordable cook stoves to reduce indoor air pollution, which is a major health challenge in the developing world.  Her business addresses SDG8 (Decent Work), SDG1 (End Poverty), and SDG3 (Good Health).

Odiwa and Magayi will be flown to New York City this September to attend the UN General Assembly and to discuss their work and impact, and may also receive leadership training and mentoring from partner organizations.

Over 1,200 entries from 88 countries were submitted, and while nearly half of the entries were from Sub-Saharan Africa, submissions were received from every region of the world, including Latin America and the Caribbean, South Asia, the Middle East and North Arica, Europe and Central Asia, and East Asia and the Pacific.

The SDGs and Her competition seeks to increase knowledge about the SDGs and their potential impacts on women, as well as to collaborate with private sector partners, and share best practices and innovative ideas.

SDGs and Her is open to women who own and/or lead microenterprises, have nine or fewer employees, and which have loan eligibility under USD $10,000 or annual sales under $100,000.  Applicants completed a short online template, describing their work and linking their initiative/product to one or more SDGs. Entries will be accepted for the 2019 competition between September 24 and December 31, 2018. Winners will be announced in early 2019.

The winners were chosen based on their impact on the SDGs, vision and purpose, and clarity of the entries. The final judging panel included: Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, Achim Steiner; United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka; World Bank Group Senior Vice President, Mahmoud Mohieldin; Lecturer and Senior Fellow, Zicklin Center for Business Ethics Research at Wharton School, Djordjija Petkoski; Senior Director for Gender at the World Bank Group, Caren Grown; and Head, Gender Secretariat, International Finance Corporation, Henriette Kolb.

In 2015, all 193 United Nations member countries signed on to 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to "create the future we want in 2030." To learn more about the SDGs, the SDGS and Her Competition, or to enter, click here or visit worldbank.org/sdgs.

Contacts:

World Bank, Washington: Mike Kelleher, mkelleher1@worldbank.org, (202) 473-4440

UNDP, New York: Sangita Khadka, Communications Specialist, sangita.khadka@undp.org   Tel: + 1 212 906 5043