Tuesday, December 9, 2025
9:00am – 10:00am EST
Description: When WSMEs are integrated into value chains, they can scale operations, create jobs, and gain more stable sources of income. For companies, having a variety of suppliers helps insulate supply chains from risks while generating a greater return on procurement investments, contributing to more resilient and innovative supply ecosystems. However, women entrepreneurs are significantly underrepresented in value chains: women only win an estimated 1 percent of the procurement spend of large corporations, according to UN Women. Barriers include limited access to networks, market information, certification, and visibility to buyers. Corporations often do not track whether they source from women-owned businesses and struggle to identify procurement-ready women suppliers. In this context, supplier diversity programs and inclusive procurement policies are showing promise in overcoming these obstacles and expanding market access opportunities for WSMEs.
Objective: The objective of this webinar is to showcase innovative programs and strategies to help women-owned and led businesses access corporate and public procurement opportunities. It will highlight how targeted interventions—such as performance-based incentives, procurement readiness training, and inclusive sourcing strategies—can address barriers and unlock market access for women entrepreneurs. Drawing on examples from Implementing Partners’ projects and recent evidence, including a We-Fi/IDB Invest case study on a gender-focused incentive model implemented with Grupo Elcatex in Honduras, the session will explore how corporates and ecosystem actors can strengthen supplier diversity, improve procurement systems, and foster more inclusive value chains that drive business growth and women’s economic empowerment.
9:00 – 9:05 Welcoming Remarks by Wendy Teleki, Head of Secretariat, We-Fi
9:05 – 9:35 Short Presentations by Speakers
- Isabel Berdeja Suarez (IDB Invest)
- Anne Njambi Kabugi (IFC)
- Melissa Basque Roux (AfDB)
9:35 – 10:00 Panel discussion and Q&A
- Moderator: Elizabeth MacBride (We-Fi)
10:00 Closing remarks by We-Fi
Isabel Berdeja Suarez, Senior Advisory Officer on the Gender and Social Inclusion team at IDB Invest
Isabel is a Senior Advisory Officer on the Gender and Social Inclusion team at IDB Invest, the private sector arm of the IDB Group. She has over twelve years of experience working on social inclusion, development with identity for Indigenous Peoples and gender equality in the region. Isabel is responsible for designing and delivering advisory services for operations in the Corporate and Financial Institutions sectors, and for helping investment teams structure sustainable finance projects that have ambitious yet achievable targets to create more opportunities for social inclusion.
Her expertise focuses on helping the private sector create more inclusive markets, helping Financial Institutions create differentiated value propositions for financial health, and developing inclusive sourcing programs that strengthen client operations.
She has led advisory activities to support clients in their Gender, Diversity, and Inclusion Strategy, with a special emphasis on the inclusion of women, Indigenous peoples, and Afro-descendants, both in the value chain and the workforce.
Before joining the IDB Group, Isabel worked in GE’s Power and Water business and at the Pan American Development Foundation on development projects focused on Indigenous development with identity.
Isabel holds a master’s degree in Development Studies from the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University (Washington, D.C., USA), and a bachelor’s degree from Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico).
Anne N. Kabugi, Inclusive Supply Chains Lead, Gender and Economic Inclusion Group, IFC
Anne is multi-skilled leader with over 20 years of experience in international development, sustainability, and gender & private sector development.
At IFC, She works to facilitate greater access to economic opportunities for underserved individuals and businesses across corporate supply chains in emerging markets, accelerating the growth of women entrepreneurs and businesses led by other marginalized groups. She is responsible for generating new opportunities and identifying investment linkages for more inclusion of women entrepreneurs as buyers, suppliers, distributors, retailers and aggregators. Previously, she served as IFC’s Regional Gender Lead for Africa, leading gender-smart business solutions and research across the continent. Before joining IFC, Anne held senior roles in communications and sustainability at Guaranty Trust Bank, Tullow Oil, and Standard Chartered Bank in Kenya. She holds an MBA in Leadership and Sustainability from University of Cumbria and has completed executive programs at Harvard Business School.
Melissa Basque Roux, Coordinator – Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA), AfDB
Melissa is a highly experienced professional with a diverse background in finance, strategy consulting, and development work. With almost two decades of experience, Melissa has made significant contributions in various organizations. She has spent 4 years at the African Development Bank, where she is currently leading as Coordinator, the Affirmative Finance Action for Women in Africa (AFAWA) initiative, working to promote financial inclusion for women entrepreneurs across Africa. Prior to this, Melissa worked for 7 years at the World Bank Group, primarily involved in gender-focused projects within the renewable energy sector. During her time at the International Finance Corporation (IFC), she led the gender program for over two years, collaborating with renewable energy companies to address gender disparities in leadership, employment, and entrepreneurship. Additionally, Melissa was overseeing the World Bank’s Lighting Africa activities in West Africa and gained valuable experience in strategy consulting, particularly in the mining sector, during her tenure with Accenture Finance and Performance Management team in Canada.
Melissa holds a BA in Finance from HEC Montreal and a Master in International Relations and International Economics from the Johns Hopkins School of International Studies (SAIS).
Elizabeth MacBride, Senior Knowledge and Advocacy Consultant, We-Fi
Elizabeth MacBride is an award-winning journalist and author whose work on finance, innovation, and global economic change has reached millions worldwide. She serves as a senior knowledge and advocacy consultant with We-Fi and has collaborated with World Bank teams on gender issues across West Africa.
She is the co-author of three books: The New Builders (2021), The Little Book of Robo Investing (2024), and her latest Capital Evolution: The New American Economy (BenBella, Dec. 2025), which examines the forces transforming the U.S. economy through conversations with leaders including the CEOs of JPMorgan, Verizon, and BlackRock. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Quartz, Forbes, and the BBC, and she has reported from Silicon Valley to conflict zones worldwide.
Wendy Teleki, Head of the We-Fi Secretariat
Wendy Teleki is Head of the We-Fi Secretariat, which is housed in the World Bank Group. The Secretariat is responsible for supporting the We-Fi Governing Committee in the allocation and supervision of We-Fi funding as well as communications, advocacy, and learning focused on strengthening opportunities for women entrepreneurs in collaboration with the GC, Implementing Partners and other stakeholders.
Ms. Teleki joined We-Fi in May 2019. Prior to that, Ms. Teleki worked with the International Finance Corporation leading numerous activities and initiatives focused on small and medium enterprise development in emerging markets around the world. This included several blended finance, investment and advisory programs, including IFC’s We-Fi program and the Global SME Finance Initiative.
Wendy has an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School of Business and an MA in International Economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
