the limited recourse to such services may negatively impact firm development and expansion efforts to improve the provision of business development services are hampered by the large number of businesses operating in the informal economy female business owners in the informal economy only have limited access to formal support providers such as womens enterprise centres womens business resource centres and business incubators in addition fewer than of mena adults are exposed to entrepreneurship content in the education system and fewer than after formal education idrc the implication is that the low percentage of mena women who are starting businesses relative to the average in gem economies are doing it without the benefit of entrepreneurship training information and professional advice that would increase their knowhow