With the aim of giving more visibility and relevance to women in the business world, the Bogota Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the International Chamber of Commerce, held the forum "Entrepreneurship for women, an industry that multiplies its value", with the participation of Marie Christine Oghly, Vice President of the World Federation of Chambers of Commerce and President of FCEM (Global Women Entrepreneurs); Nicolas Uribe Rueda, President of the Bogota Chamber of Commerce and Patricia Isabel Garcia, President of the Women's Business Convergence of Argentina.

Gender equity is today a fundamental goal for companies, governments and society in general. According to statistics from the Commercial Registry of the CCB, 43.2% of the companies owned by individuals have a woman owner. In addition, 45.3% of microenterprises are owned by a woman, and this percentage decreases as the size of the company increases. Although in the capital there is work to be done to close the gender gap, women had an increase in real income of 4.5% between 2011 and 2021, while for men it fell by 11% (DANE).

Entrepreneurship has become a vehicle for women to achieve economic independence and occupy leadership positions. In fact, 34.8% of the 571,329 micro-businesses in the city are owned by women, according to the DANE micro-business survey.

Nicolás Uribe Rueda, executive president of the Bogota Chamber of Commerce, stated that "We are committed to ensuring that the private sector has an agenda with a triple impact: economic, social and environmental value. In the area of social transformation, it is essential to close gaps in employment, gender, and the environment. This is where the productive sector has a transcendental role to play". Marie Christine Oghly, in the framework of the "Breaking Glass Ceilings" conversation, assured that she is determined that the Chambers of Commerce contribute to the closing of gaps, to equity and to continue empowering women. "Competencies and skills are fundamental to succeed in business. Women have the competencies, often even more than men. They just have to dare to do things. Among the skills required to succeed in business the key thing is innovation and adopting new digital tools."

Patricia García, president of the Argentine Organization of Women Entrepreneurs (OAME), pointed out that precisely one of the activities where there are more gaps is in technology because traditionally it has been men or the metallurgical sector. That is why they have some initiatives "Girls in technology" and others that encourage their participation.

Also present at the event were Mía Perdomo CEO of Aequales, Isabella Espinosa CEO of Baobab, Sofía Vagras creator of Epifanía and Juan Daniel Oviedo, former Director of DANE.

Commitment of the CCB Since 2019, the CCB has been working permanently on its sustainability and shared value policy, which has empowerment and gender equity as one of its pillars. The entity helps thousands of companies to be sustainable but also leads by example to inspire other companies. Thus, it has about 55% participation of women; 265 management level positions are held by women; 58% of the board of directors are women. According to the results of the Par Ranking, made by Aequales, which highlights the efforts of companies in gender equity, the Bogota Chamber of Commerce achieved 24th place among the most equitable companies out of more than 350 that were rated in the measurement. This figure reflects the efforts we implemented and compares with the 142nd place achieved in 2020.

Viewed by size, we climbed from 55th to eighth place among companies with between 200 and 1,000 employees, and in terms of companies of national origin, the CCB reached sixth place from 63rd position.

The entity's rating was also outstanding compared to the region. It moved from 456th place in 2020 to 59th in the new measurement, carried out on more than 800 companies in Latin America. By size, it moved from 133rd to 16th place, while among those of national origin it is now the fifteenth most equitable company, moving up from 189th place the previous year.