Unlocking the potential of women entrepreneurs remains a crucial challenge of our time. That is why Facebook launched #SheMeansBusiness in 2016, as its long-term commitment to women’s economic empowerment.
The program supports women-owned enterprises to enter the digital economy, through skills training and business inspiration.
Globally, #SheMeansBusiness and its strong network of community partners have trained one million women across 38 markets.
In 2020, in response to the COVID-19 crisis, Facebook’s SheMeansBusiness expanded its scope and added training on business resiliency through financial education. The aim is to help women face the economic impacts of the pandemic and navigate their businesses out of the crisis.
"Women's digital businesses are making history and creating a whole universe of possibilities for women's economic empowerment to leverage the digital world.”
Vice President of Colombia. 2020,Colombia
"I am very proud that we were able to reach nearly 2,000 women-business owners in the first fours months after launch of the SheMeansBusiness Program in Senegal. In addition to training these women, this programme connects and reveals extraordinary projects of hard-working women. They are aware that digital is a very powerful resilience asset. I look forward to continuing to impact these women-business owners through Facebook."
Founder, Smart Ecosystems for Women (SEW),Senegal
"Bayan Academy's partnership with Facebook strengthens its resolve in democratizing social development technologies in the Philippines as a way to build the nation from below, reaching and empowering many of the disadvantaged and vulnerable including the micro and small entrepreneurs through the use of technology.
Executive Director and COO, Bayan Academy,Philippines
"This project gives space to the life stories of women entrepreneurs who, through their stories, teach us that nothing is impossible when there is determination and love in what is done. Thanks to platforms like Facebook, today we can generate and strengthen the community of women entrepreneurs in this digital age, supporting each other, sharing different ideas and joining in a common goal: to reach new achievements for the satisfaction of our loved ones.... Strength and talent are not unique to a genre, making women a fundamental part of the country's economic recovery. Women don't need favors, just equal opportunities... it is we, women of Mexico, who will overcome the circumstances by adding character and capacity to new digital tools."
Secretary of the Governorship, 2020,Mexico
"The Facebook – Siyafunda Community Technology Centre partnership since 2019 has empowered and greatly enhanced the capacity and growth of over 12,000 women-owned-businesses in rural and urban townships of South Africa through the SheMeansBusiness Digital Marketing Skills Program."
Founder Director, Siyafunda,,South Africa
"Financial literacy is important in many parts of life, for the SMBs and even personally for me in the government during this difficult time. Thank you Facebook for investing its resources and is very committed on this program."
,Indonesia
“She Means Business is a program that seeks to promote digital transformation and equity in everything that has to do with financial inclusion. They are two central axes with which we have been working from the ministry, from the Pyme Secretariat. We believe that a productive policy needs to be a policy that transforms and generates an added value process from companies. That integrates an environmental dimension, that it is federal and that encompasses gender equity as one of its main vectors."
Secretary of Small and Medium Enterprises and Entrepreneurs of Argentina. 2020,Argentina
“Empowering women entrepreneurs with digital marketing skills across 9 provinces in South Africa during COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 proved how powerful digital platforms can be leveraged during a pandemic crisis. Our Partnership with FaceBook Africa and Siyafunda demonstrated the need to continuously explore the potential of technology to reach huge numbers and empower women with necessary skills to sustain their businesses."
Representative South Africa Multi-Country Office,South Africa
"Thank you WISE, thank you Facebook for organizing the online festival and for giving me the opportunity to attend today. It can be said that this is a very meaningful initiative of FB and WISE, especially in the current context of COVID 19 when the pandemic poses significant challenges to socio-economic activities in general as well as activities. activities of the female business community in particular."
Deputy Director, E-commerce and Digital Economy Department, Ministry of Industry and Trade,Vietnam
“USAID SMEA’s partnership with Facebook has been one of the most fruitful collaborations for the project in 2020, especially during COVID-19. Where SMEs and women-led businesses in particular were facing extreme circumstances and so many were on the verge of closing down, pushing these female entrepreneurs to understand and utilize free online marketing tools to generate sales through social media created some real and immediate impact. Moreover, the turnout that #SheMeansBusiness has seen has also been an exciting phenomenon to witness, keeping in perspective how generally traditional WLBs from across Pakistan with connectivity issues and lack of exposure to technology have constantly pushed themselves to come online, attend these sessions, and then also demand similar future trainings from USAID SMEA. With the impact that we have been able to achieve so far, we are hopeful that we will successfully keep engaging new WLBs and re-engaging existing beneficiaries so that they can continue to grow their businesses in 2021.”
Specialist - Competitiveness Enhancement (CE), USAID SMEA,Pakistan
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Facebook launches SheMeansBusiness in Asia Pacific, as the company’s long-term commitment to women’s economic empowerment.
ASIA PACIFIC
Facebook launches SheMeansBusiness in Asia Pacific, as the company’s long-term commitment to women’s economic empowerment.
LATIN AMERICA
Program launched in Argentina.
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The program has a massive expansion in Asia and continues to grow in Latin America.
Sheryl Sandberg was invited at the APEC CEO Summit in Danang by the Vietnam Prime Minister H.E. Nguyen Xuan Phuc.
SheMeansBusiness is recognized in Indonesia as an initiative that supports young and female entrepreneurs.
ASIA PACIFIC
Program launched in Bangladesh and Vietnam.
Sheryl Sandberg was invited at the APEC CEO Summit in Danang by the Vietnam Prime Minister H.E. Nguyen Xuan Phuc.
Vietnam Women Economic Council (VWEC), the host of APEC Women Business Summit side event in Hue dedicated the event to #SheMeansBusiness.
#SheMeansBusiness was awareded by Mayor of Surabaya, Indonesia as supporter for SMB development for youth and women entrepreneurs.
LATIN AMERICA
Program launched in Mexico and Colombia.
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SheMeansBusiness is now a global program. It grows to Europe, the Middle East, South Asia and Africa, and joins a key multilateral initiative in Latin America.
ASIA PACIFIC
Program launched in Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka.
EUROPE, THE MIDDLE EAST, AFRICA
Program launched in Egypt, Ireland, UK, UAE, Italy, Turkey.
LATIN AMERICA
Facebook joined ConnectAmericas and the Inter-American Development Bank’s #100kChallenge at the Summit of the Americas to train 100,000 women entrepreneurs in Latin America by 2021.
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
Program launched in Nigeria.
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SheMeansBusiness is invited to showcase success stories from Asia and Latin America in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Chile. The Ministry of Women and Gender Equity of Chile endorses SheMeansBusiness and its efforts to promote women’s economic empowerment.
The program keeps expanding to new countries in Latin America, Europe and Africa and joins a key multilateral initiative in Africa.
ASIA PACIFIC
Program launched in Cambodia.
EUROPE, THE MIDDLE EAST, AFRICA
Program launched in France and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
LATIN AMERICA
Program launched in Chile and Peru.
SheMeansBusiness invited to the Asia Pacific Cooperation (APEC) forum in Chile.
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
Program launched in South Africa.
Facebook joined the African Union 1M by 2021 initiative.
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SheMeansBusiness expands its scope to support COVID-19 inclusive recovery efforts, by including business resiliency and financial management tools, in addition to its digital skills training. The new component is quickly adopted in 6 countries: Indonesia, Philippines, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina & Colombia.
The program announces it has trained 1 million women across 38 markets at the United Nation’s General Assembly.
The program shifts to a virtual-only environment, considering confinement measures across the globe, through local co-design efforts with its community partners.
Launched the first SheMeansBusiness book in celebration of National Women’s Month in South Africa, entitled Inspiring #Changemakers
.
ASIA PACIFIC
Launched the Business Resiliency through Financial Education component of SheMeansBusiness in Indonesia and Philippines.
LATIN AMERICA
Launch of Business Resiliency through Financial Education component of SheMeansBusiness in Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and Brazil.
SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
Launched the first SheMeansBusiness book in celebration of National Women’s Month in South Africa. The book, titled Inspiring #Changemakers featured inspiring stories from 13 trailblazing women who are leading the way in business and their communities.
Global research shows that when women entrepreneurs succeed, economies do better. Studies carried out by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, OECD, World Bank and International Finance Corporation in conjunction with McKinsey reinforce the point that harnessing the economic potential of women can release substantial economic potential.
Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp have been used by businesses around the world to connect with their customers in these trying times, and they have also worked as equalizers for many gender barriers in the physical world.
○ For instance, a female entrepreneur can now start a business by only opening a Facebook Page, instead of needing capital to open a physical store.
Most women who are economically challenged are not digitally savvy. While digital platforms offer an opportunity to create a level playing field, lack of digital skills is a big obstacle. Through Facebook’s digital marketing training (in addition to ad credits) Facebook intends to help these women to overcome this obstacle and give their businesses a head start.
An introduction to the importance of digital marketing and key things to define when creating a page, thinking about posts and driving customer engagement. This includes business objectives, target audience, your story, business personality and so on.
A step by step guide on creating a Facebook for Business Page. In this session the learner can follow along & create a page while the facilitator walks them through each step.
The module focuses on the principles/rules of creating great content; target audience, the rules of text, and what makes great visuals. It also covers how Instagram and Facebook differ.
Practical application of applying the Content Rules theory and using tools and apps available. In this session the learner will create engaging content using Layout, Messenger, Shop, Offers, Groups, Boomerang, Hyperlapse, Live and Events. In this session the learner can try all the apps as the facilitator explains the benefits and how to use each of the tools.
This module focuses on how to manage your page on a day to day basis using your mobile phone or laptop. It covers the Pages Manager App, posting content, planning & scheduling posts, messages & messenger, and some basics on Insight and how to tell what is working and what’s not.
This module helps Facebook for Business users understand their Page Insights data. How to use the data to adjust customer engagements, posts to drive more interaction and impact.
Creating an Instagram for Business account. What is the difference between Instagram and Facebook for Business? Why imagery matters and how to use creativity to connect with your customers.
#SheMeansBusiness
In addition to digital marketing training, the program aims to equip women with knowledge on how to develop their own business and financial plans to access financial support from governments and financial services providers alike.
In 2020, SheMeansBusiness expanded its scope to support COVID-19 inclusive recovery efforts, by including business resiliency through financial education, which is a critical tool for women entrepreneurs in these challenging times.
○ Launched in six countries in 2020: Colombia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil. Will be launching in Pakistan, Vietnam, Nigeria, Senegal and South Africa in 2021.
○ The pilot training program implemented a co-design process with community partners to guarantee its local value before implementing the program.
○ Given the COVID-19 situation, the program innovated and shifted to an online/virtual-only environment.
The program also invested in research in order to create and share evidence around gender-sensitive policies and programs that can help unlock women's entrepreneurial potential.
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Start your journey with these quick and simple learning capsules designed to help you boost your business financial management skills.