We close out Women's History Month with a podcast with the Women’s Entrepreneurship Product Lead for the International Finance Corporation's (IFC) Gender Secretariat, Heather Mae Kipnis, and CIPE's Director for the Center for Women's Economic Empowerment, Barbara Langley. They discuss IFC's role in supporting stakeholders and clients to close gender gaps in the economy, and doing so in a sustainable way. Heather Mae Kipnis highlights the business case for closing the gender gap and help create more opportunities for women entrepreneurs, and the top 6 challenges women face in business and investment. 

This podcast was originally recorded in November 2019. 

Dr. Liz David-Barrett, Professor of Governance and Integrity and Director of the Centre for the Study of Corruption, University of Sussex, joins Associate Program Officer for CIPE's Anti-Corruption and Governance Center in this podcast. They discuss major trends in the global anti-corruption space and its study, and what corporations can in terms of global leadership. Dr. David-Barrett also talks about her work with "integrity clubs" and their conditions for success. 

This week, Carolina Acosta, Regional Representative for the Global Alliance for Trade Facilitation (GATF), joins host Ken Jaques and co-host Florent Bakija, Program Officer for GATF. They discuss how trade facilitation can help developing countries like Colombia save millions every year (approx $14.3 million) if the Trade Facilitation Agreement is implemented. They also highlight how the work in Colombia has been a huge success, and how the project can be replicated in countries around the world. The harmonization of customs procedures is a huge opportunity for business and authorities, says Carolina Acosta.

Read the full case study of GATF (and CIPE's) work in Colombia on this project with partner INVIMA: https://www.cipe.org/resources/colombia-making-trade-of-essential-goods-simpler-faster-and-more-cost-effective/

Aisalkyn Botoeva’s work as a sociologist addresses many of CIPE’s focus areas, from women’s entrepreneurship to associations, specifically in Central Asia, she has a lot of experience to share. In this podcast, she will discuss the evolution of women’s entrepreneurship from the 1990s to today in two countries, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. She will analyze the impact of international organizations, governments, as well as women’s own organizations in supporting entrepreneurship, and identify areas for further work.