Over one-third of the world’s formal female-owned SMEs are located in these ten focus countries, amounting to an estimated 3.6mn businesses, according to the International Finance Corporation (IFC). While the number is substantial, most of these countries lag their G20 peers in terms of per capita female SME ownership as Exhibit 1 demonstrates. Additionally, as shown in Exhibit 2, female SME ownership varies significantly across the ten studied countries. While there are more male than female SME owners on average, Brazil is an outlier with 56% of SMEs owned by women. In contrast, male ownership dominates the SME sector in India and Saudi Arabia, with over 80% male share. Given the breadth of the SME sector, we distinguish between types. Formal enterprises are those that are registered with government and tax authorities, informal enterprises are those that are not. While our study focuses on formal SMEs, it is notable that many women find employment through the informal sector. In India, the IFC estimates there are over 120 times more informal female-owned micro, small and medium enterprises than there are formal female-owned SMEs.