Join our next #OneSouthAsia live conversation to hear how three women entrepreneurs are navigating the pandemic and tapping regional opportunities to create jobs, contribute to economic growth, and reduce gender gaps. South Asia has the world’s lowest rate of women entrepreneurs, with just 18% of small, medium and large businesses principally owned by a woman. Few engage in trade. As South Asia rebuilds after COVID-19, the region needs more women entrepreneurs to help drive innovations in services and products. Entrepreneurs Maheen Adamjee of Pakistan, Sairee Chahal of India, and Ayanthi Gurusinghe of Sri Lanka will share their experiences growing their businesses domestically and regionally, accessing finance, and using digital technology. Former banker Anshula Kant, now chief financial officer of the World Bank Group, will offer insights about the World Bank’s support to women entrepreneurs globally and in South Asia. Cecile Fruman, the World Bank’s direction of regional integration and engagement in South Asia, will lead the conversation. No ...

Fifty years have passed since the Nobel laureate poet- turned- plenipotentiary, Octavio Paz, saw India, where he was Mexico’s ambassador, as “a land of extremes”. The poet’s muse was his encounter with the profusion of sights and sounds, colors and smells, people and animals that greeted him during his travels in the subcontinent. It included what he described as “the incredible opulence” of the maharajahs surrounded by what he saw as “equally unbelievable” poverty. But is that still the case today? From what perspectives? Does the region stand out, by international standards? And if so, what lies behind it? What should be done (and not done) about it? Join us as the authors of Addressing Inequality in South Asia and other experts discuss dynamics and drivers of inequality in South Asia and how to potentially address inequality for better socioeconomic development in the region.