Asta Bareisaite

Women are underrepresented in business ownership and face steep challenges in operating and growing firms. Only 7% of surveyed firms are majority female-owned, and women own on average 8% of each firm (compared to 18% in Sub-Saharan Africa). Even as overall sales improved, just 4% of female-owned firms invested in new fixed assets, compared to 33% of male-owned businesses.

This year’s International Identification Day on September 16 was particularly memorable for some of us. I, Daniel, had spent it in Mogadishu seeing the outstanding work of Somalia's National Identification and Registration Authority (NIRA) in the Federal Republic of Somalia. NIRA was celebrating its own milestone of launching the mass registration campaign for the long anticipated foundational digital ID.

Somalia’s economy is reeling from COVID-19 shocks, alongside  the pre-existing structural challenges from conflict, climate change and a recent locust plague. The latest World Bank Somalia Economic Update, however, projects gross domestic product (GDP) growth to reach pre-COVID-19 levels of 3.2% in 2023, thanks largely to improved remittances and aid inflows.