Strive Women Playbook

A hands-on resource for designing financial products and services around the real needs of women entrepreneurs.

Explore the playbook
A laptop with the digital Strive Women Playbook displayed on the screen.
Strive Women

Designing with women in mind is not only fair; it’s smart business.

This playbook gives teams and consultants practical tools to apply Women-Centered Design (WCD) when creating financial products and services for women entrepreneurs — along with built-in WCD checks and AI prompts to save time.

What is Women-Centered Design (WCD)?

Women-Centered Design (WCD) is an approach to designing solutions that start from women’s real needs, not assumptions about them. It focuses on understanding women’s roles, responsibilities, constraints, and decision-making, and using those insights to shape how products, services, programs, or systems are created and delivered. By involving women throughout the design process, WCD helps teams build solutions that are more relevant, practical, and likely to work in the contexts where women live and work.

Want to know more about Women-Centered Design?

Email us at entrepreneurship@care.org

Why Women-Centered Design matters for entrepreneurs

When women are centered in design, financial services work differently. Products become easier to use, better aligned with cashflow realities, and more responsive to the constraints women entrepreneurs face — from unpaid care work to limited time and mobility. The result is not just access, but solutions women actually adopt, trust, and use to grow their businesses.

The Women-Centered Design process at a glance

Align

Align to design solutions around women’s needs.

Discover

Learn what women need and what stands in their way.

Ideate and test

Test ideas with women to ensure solutions work.

Design for launch

Refine insights into tailored, launch-ready solutions.

Pilot and scale

Pilot in real contexts, refine with women, and scale.

Women-Centered Design starts here

Find tools and resources for every stage of the Women-Centered Design process.

Explore the playbook

We are driving change, together

Strive Women is a four-year program led by CARE and supported by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth as part of its Mastercard Strive program. It strengthens the financial health of women-led small businesses in Pakistan, Peru, and Vietnam. These businesses are critical contributors to economies, communities, and households, yet often face significant barriers.

Join our Community of Practice

Be part of a growing network of practitioners, innovators, and advocates advancing women’s entrepreneurship around the world. Connect, share insights, and collaborate to drive inclusive solutions that empower women-led businesses to thrive.

Join CARE Women’s Entrepreneurship Community of Practice on LinkedIn.

Mastercard Strive

Strive Women is part of Mastercard Strive, a portfolio of philanthropic small business programs supported by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. The program is led by CARE, supported by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, and funded with a $9 million USD investment from the Mastercard Impact Fund.