In the next two years, the Australian government plans to play an active role in supporting our Pacific neighbours to find a ‘new normal’ through its Partnership for Recovery, Australia’s COVID-19 Development Response. The strategy has a strong focus on economic recovery and an ongoing commitment to gender equality and women’s economic empowerment. Within this strategy, we see a real opportunity to invest in the resilience of women-led Pacific SMEs and to better understand what really drives and undermines their business resilience. Such an approach could simultaneously support economic stability and enhance gender equality. As for what really drives resilience? Well for us, Guria highlighted the power of combining mindset development alongside entrepreneurial capability development and a connected, supportive cohort. This approach significantly contributed to increasing the resilience of the Guria cohort. From our perspective, those that have the ability to adapt, cope with stress and stand in their own power, will have a better chance of surviving this uncertain time. Mindset has always mattered in our work, but it matters even more now. It’s time we invest in it to ensure women-led businesses continue to survive and thrive.
