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Women entrepreneurs are an emerging economic force today. Given the global challenges of our business climate, it is imperative to facilitate the participation of women and encourage them to strive for leadership by giving them equal opportunity for competition. This paper discusses how women entrepreneurship is at the heart of a nation’s economic development, and how success and barriers enhance and hinder their roadmap to entrepreneurship. The author has incorporated the findings of an extensive literature review of research published by scholars, mainly in the areas of entrepreneurial success, barriers, education and training. This paper also highlights innovation, human capital and social capital as key facilitators for success, while identifying a number of barriers and problems encountered by women worldwide especially in developing countries. To help women entrepreneurs become successful, it is important to provide training and education using a systematic approach.
Women Entrepreneurs, Success Factors, Barriers, Education, Training, Development, Innovation, Human Capital, Social Capital
Women are essential contributors that matter for economic development. Global growth is entering a phase where entrepreneurship will play a more vital role. It is an era when women entrepreneurship is increasingly recognised as a crucial component to economic development and sustainability worldwide.
The objective of this paper is to provide a clear panoramic view of women entrepreneurship in the context of economic development, the factors that make them successful, the nature of difficulties and barriers they encounter in their entrepreneurial journey, and how education and training are supportive tools for their expansion.
Entrepreneurs are the agents of change and growth in a market economy. In the classic book, “The Theory of Economic Development (1934)”, Joseph Schumpeter asserted that entrepreneurship causes economic growth by allowing the means of production in society to merge into newer and more efficient combinations. He viewed an entrepreneur as an innovator.
Entrepreneurship is recognised as being of fundamental importance to the economy (Bruyat & Julien 2001). Van Praag & Versloot (2007) identified four economic benefits of entrepreneurship: job creation, innovation, productivity and growth, and the potential to increase the "utility" of people by increasing satisfaction or income. Without entrepreneurship, there would not be economic growth or development. It brings employment, wealth, competition, and innovation. Hereby, entrepreneurship plays a key role in generating economic growth by commercialising knowledge spillovers.
Why is entrepreneurship becoming a global phenomenon? There are at least three reasons. Firstly, in the West, the managed economy of the 1970s-2000s which had relied on big business and mass production, has given way to a so-called entrepreneurial economy where goods and services are more flexibly provided by smaller firms. The small and medium enterprise (SME) sector development is one of the key issues in developing countries (Davidsson 2004, Gibb & Ritchie 1982). Significantly, there are increasing numbers of women contribution to the global economy, as well as to their own communities.
Secondly, it was seen that the prominent growth in emerging countries, notably the BRICs – Brazil, Russia, India and China – has been driven by an entrepreneurial revolution. These economies need to move towards sustainable growth through access to resources, knowledge, markets and low-carbon industrialisation, and must put a premium on innovative entrepreneurship. During the last decades, the role of entrepreneurs has grown and become more important for economic growth and innovation. Furthermore, Wennekers & Thurik (1999) did extensive research on the link between entrepreneurship and economic growth, which highlighted two major roles: “new business creation” and “newness of innovative entrepreneurship”.
Finally, in the least developed countries (LDCs), most of the aid is generally channelled to the private sector. Promoting youth entrepreneurship in most of these countries has become a primary policy of many development organisations and donors. It is anticipated that, the role of women entrepreneurship will continue to spark growth and employment creation in developing and LDCs alike. Women play a role in driving the world economy. Women-owned entities in the formal sector represent approximately 37% of enterprises globally (Vanderbrug, 2013). The 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report shows that factor-driven economies have the highest average female Total Entrepreneurship Activity (TEA) rates relative to men. With women, necessity is almost a third more likely to be the reason than with men. There are six economies where women entrepreneurs equal or exceed the number of men entrepreneurs. These are Vietnam, Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Peru and Indonesia.
The number of women in self-employment has been increasing steadily. Padma (2013) states that women-owned businesses increased by 42% between 1997 and 2006.
In summary, women entrepreneurs have contributed significantly as policy makers and job creators, innovators, inventors of new products and services to global business.
There have been many studies to find the factors that lead to women’s achievement as entrepreneurs, but little agreement on the relative importance of these factors. Growth and success lie deep inside the firms, in terms of their resources. These include tangible resources (such as capital, machinery, location) and intangible resources (such as knowledge, skills and reputation).
Carter & Cannon (1992) believe that the most important factor is the ability to transfer management skills from previous work experience. Huck & McEwen (1991) listed management, planning, budgeting, selling and marketing. Yusuf (1995) considered good management skills, access to financing, personal qualities, and satisfactory government support as the most critical success factors for South Pacific islanders. Foreman, Makepeace & Morgan (2006) investigated the effect of government and trade organisation policies which had significant impact on the performance of businesses, and found that the desired effect from such policies varied by the type of organisation and the structure of businesses.
Benzing, Chu & Callanan (2005) found that in Vietnam a good product and price came second to a friendly approach to customers. In Rumania, friendliness was also in the top three, along with customer service and a reputation for honesty (Benzing & Chu, 2005). Education of the entrepreneurs, the competitive level of the market and/or the extent of government assistance might partially explain the research respondents’ perceptions of success factors (Benzing, Chu & Callanan 2005; Ufuk & Ozgen (2001) found that in Turkey the main success factors were self-confidence, courage, good communication, patience, and modesty.
Buttner (1993) argued that endurance and hard work was the key to success for female entrepreneurs in competing with males. Family support and encouragement was also found to reduce work-related stress in women, leading to business success (Buttner 1993, Maysami & Goby 1999). Lee & Stearns (2012) in a study of 228 women entrepreneurs in Korea, found that the soft factors of family support, acknowledgment, good communication were important, along with availability of resources and good business knowledge and skills.
Innovativeness is the key that will unlock entrepreneurship’s success (Frederick & Kurato 2010). Innovation is the creation of better or more effective products, and can also bring more opportunities, greater productivity, and sometimes leads to new industries.
Nijhof, Krabbendam & Looise (2002) said, "In the present ever-changing world, the importance of innovation can hardly be overestimated". New ventures and innovations are important for improving employment conditions, social cohesion and consequently, economic development (Reynolds et al. 1995, Baumol 2004, Audretsch 2004). Khanka (2000), stated that women entrepreneurs are confident, innovative, can be economically dependent, create new employment, be collaborative, and maintain a good life balance.
The 2015 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, Women’s Entrepreneurship Report assessed innovation among women entrepreneurs by a combination of two main variables with respect to products and services: the degree of newness they represent to customers, and the extent to which competitors are not offering the services. The report reveals that women entrepreneurs in nearly half of 83 economies have accomplished equal or higher innovation levels than men entrepreneurs. It has been shown that Chile and India have the highest level of female innovation in both of these economies. From a regional perspective, women entrepreneurs in efficiency-driven Europe are particularly innovative. They report higher levels of innovation than male entrepreneurs on almost three-quarters of the economies in this region.
Human capital theory states that entrepreneurs with a greater human capital stock will outperform their less endowed counterparts (Becker 1975). Human capital refers to the range of valuable skill set and knowledge a person has accumulated over time (Burt 1992). It can be measured by two categories: tacit and explicit knowledge (Polanyi, 1967; Rebernik & Sirec, 2007; Sirec, 2007). Becker (1993) cited human capital as the most common measure for the general assessment of formal education completed. When profitable opportunities for a new economy arise, individuals with a higher level of human capital can capture opportunities more effectively and develop successfully.
Bates (1990) found that entrepreneurs with a higher level of formal education were more likely to succeed, both in terms of performance and longevity. Older and more experienced women made firmer and more purposeful decisions. Experience reinforces individual self-efficacy and self-confidence, thereby increasing the ability to navigate the competitiveness and changing business environments. Likewise, Kariv (2011) observed that, “Education and prior experience are the critical human capital components in entrepreneurship, in that they reflect the degree to which managerial know-how and capability have been developed.".
Reimers-Hild, Fritz & King (2007) report that women need to invest in their human capital, "actively seek out and obtain knowledge through formal education" to build up their credentials. Bruderl & Preisendorfer (1998) proffer the network compensation hypothesis. This says that those with less advantage in terms of finance and human capital need to make more effort to gain support from their own network.. Cuba, Decenzo & Anish (1983) posit that education, experience and delegating skills have positive impact on entrepreneurs' success. Sluis, Van Praag & Vijerberg (2008) support this, and identify education as a significant factor of entrepreneurs’ success in industrial countries.
Not all human capital is directly related to entrepreneurial success, but the GEM report consistently shows that entrepreneurs have higher levels of education than non- entrepreneurs. This is consistent with findings from Goldman Sachs’ “10,000 Women” project, which indicates that education and training make a difference to women in less developed economies. Moreover, Siri & Ainsley (2015) point out that the 2015 Female Entrepreneurship Index by the Global Entrepreneurship and Development Institute, which covers 77 countries, states that the percentage of female entrepreneurs who are highly educated, i.e. those that have participated in some form of post-secondary education, has increased by 9%.
Social capital is viewed as a key facilitator of resource exchange within and between firms (Aldrich 1999). Social relationships play an important role in setting up a firm, and entrepreneurs use their social capital to access resources in each phase of the establishment process (Greve & Salaff, 2003). Entrepreneurs use informal contacts (e.g. potential customers, friends, family, other entrepreneurs) in addition to formal ones (e.g. consultants, accountants, lawyers,) to obtain information or to access specific resources (e.g. information, financial support). Furthermore, social networks can increase the likelihood of business success (Smith & Lohrke 2008), so entrepreneurs must expand their networks to gain competitive advantage (Robben 1984). A small business requires myriad resources from information and capital to symbolic support (Singh, Tucker & House,. 1986), and those resources can be delivered from social ties with entities within a social network.
Women entrepreneurs are good at expanding their social capital as a means of securing resources to start their business (Chuang et al. 2012). It has been noted that "one of the most critical needs for women entrepreneurs lies in a non-technical area: the development of networks and mentors" (Kickul, Gundry & Sampson 2007). Minniti (2010) suggests this reliance on these small networks has a profound effect on their business performance.
According to Bezanson (2006), there are three types of networks:
Bonding – typically associated with family and women and characterised by strong ties among closely-related people – associated with survival
Bridging – connects people from different social groups – associated with mobility and getting ahead
Linking – proactively tying people together in a formal relationship, which is effective for leveraging "resources, ideas and information from formal institutions beyond the community.”
Eagly & Carli (2007) add that women can benefit from other women through “social support, role modelling, and information about overcoming discriminatory obstacles". However, some research suggests no relationship between women’s entrepreneurial success and social capital, e.g. Carsrud, Galio & Olm (1987).
Moore (1999) reports that networks of trusted advisers serve women entrepreneurs as confidential sounding boards for voicing concerns and sharing solutions. Buttner & Moore (1997) found over 60% of women entrepreneurs viewed their work and life as a central point, connected to an overlapping series of network relationships that included family, business and society. Smeltzer & Fann (1989) concurred with the notion of the importance of networks, noting that women gained both social and instrumental support from female networks.
As a consequence, to launch a successful business, it is essential to have social exchange relationships that enhance the ability to create sustainable relationships (Hite 2005, Smith & Lohrke 2008). Social capital is hard to copy, and provides unique resources that lead to competitive advantage (Luczak et al. 2010). Social relationships are complex and therefore have become an imperative source of sustainable long-term advantages.
In developing countries, entrepreneurship is important to economic development, but macroeconomic policies, limited access to short-term and long-term financial capital, and lack of managerial experience are problems. Most small and medium enterprise (SMEs) owners in these economies have insufficient capital (Benzing et al. 2005, Cook 2001, Peel & Wilson 1996; Spring & McDade 1998). Entrepreneurs are unable meet collateral requirements for commercial loans or face very high rates of interest, which hinders their potential.
The major problems entrepreneurs face in Turkey are related to government bureaucracy, lack of financing, weak economy, and a traditional view against business ownership by women. There are many difficulties for women starting and running a business because of the community's view of a woman's role in society (Ufuk & Ozgen 2001). It was found that 88% of women entrepreneurs consider an inability to obtain capital as the most important obstacle. The business environment for women in the South Asian region, which reflects the complex relationship of different factors (e.g. psychological, social/cultural, religion, economic and educational factors) ultimately results in the disadvantaged status of women in society. Women traditionally remain far behind men in enjoying freedom and other basic human rights, let alone participating with men on an equal footing in economic activities (Sinhal 2005).
In Bangladesh, most women’s enterprises lack basic forms and information, marketing opportunities, regulatory and social support (Asian Development Bank, 2001b). The problems in Nepal are mainly low access to credit and marketing networks, lack of access to land, property, and modern technology, lack of personal security and risk of sexual harassment, as well as social and cultural barriers such as exclusive responsibility for household work and restrictions on mobility (Asian Development Bank, 1999a). Similarly in Pakistan, women entrepreneurs do not enjoy the same opportunities as men due to deep-rooted discriminatory socio-cultural values and traditions (Roomi & Parrot 2008).
In Indonesia, the barriers can be attributed to at least four main factors.
The same stories followed Malaysian women entrepreneurs, as well as inadequate peer support networks compared with men (Ming-Yen et al. 2007). This is despite the formation of various women entrepreneurs and industry associations. This might pose challenges to women entrepreneurs in establishing networks that are critical to their business survival.
In Vietnam, although women have increased economic opportunities, their productive potential has been under utilised due to cultural values and the unfavourable business environment. They face high pressure from work and family, difficulties in social relations and communications, low education, limited business development services, gender stereotyping and lack of business training (Vietnam Women Entrepreneurs Council 2007). In India, problems and barriers to women include liquidity and inadequate credit are their top challenges Vijayakumar & Jayachitra, 2013.
To summarise, researchers have identified a wide range of problems and barriers that hinder entrepreneurial success: geographical, social, cultural, psychological, economic and financial factors; religion, education, lack of business training, social networks and communication, etc. Despite these barriers and problems, it is astonishing how these women are capturing more and more share of the global business empire and are driving the growth of today’s economy.
With the growing momentum of women entrepreneurship in previous decades, education is important for growth as it encourages innovation, fosters job creation, and improves global competitiveness. Education, training and work experience are considered to be the most common indicators of human capital associated with entrepreneurial success.
There is a need to create strong links between the spirit of entrepreneurship and education (Reynolds et al. 2001). Countries that have emphasised entrepreneurship development programmes have been found to be successful in achieving higher growth of micro, small and medium enterprises or MSME (Jahanshahi et al. 2011).
Adequate provision for education is an important requirements for a nation's development (Gopalkrishna & Rao 2012). There has been increasing demand to produce and deliver high- quality entrepreneurship education because entrepreneurship and innovation have been recognised as critical drivers of sustainable economic development and competitive advantage (Matlay 2008; Solomon, Duffy & Tarabishy, 2002).
Further, all individuals should be exposed to entrepreneurship training and development as graduates in entrepreneurship are three times more likely to start their own businesses, three times more likely to be self-employed, have annual incomes 27% higher, own 62% more assets, and are more satisfied with their jobs (Charney & Libecap 2004). Universities have increasingly recognised the importance of these societal trends and expanded entrepreneurship and small business programmes (Solomon, Duffy & Tarabishy 2002).
Peter Drucker syas that entrepreneurship ‘"...has nothing to do with the genes. It's a discipline. And, like any discipline, it can be learned" (Drucker 1985). Additional support for this view comes from a 10-year (1985 to 1994) literature review of enterprise, entrepreneurship and small business management education that reported, "Most of the empirical studies surveyed indicated that entrepreneurship can be taught, or at least encouraged, by entrepreneurship education" (Gorman, Hanlon & King, 1997).
In one of the most comprehensive analyses, Solomon et al. (2002) conclude that "Entrepreneurial education must include skill-building courses in negotiation, leadership, new product development, creative thinking, and exposure to technological innovation.” More importantly, they found that the use of experiential learning was widespread and diverse in its application from the literature. Dewey & Dewey (1915) discussed "learning by doing" while Wolfe & Byrne (1975) used the term "experience-based learning.”
Women possess both lower entrepreneurial self-confidence (self-efficacy, skill development) and lower entrepreneurial intentions (Chen et al. 1998; Chowdhury & Endres 2005; Gatewood et al. 2002). Gundry (1997), in a study of 311 women entrepreneurs, found that those just starting ventures had different sets of needs for information and training from those who were already established. This is crucial for defining the highly specific skill sets needed at each stage of business. Sexton (1997) recommended that training for fast-growing firms should have a distinctive strategic and managerial focus.
The impact of women entrepreneurship on the economy and society may be summarised in four ways: job creation/employment opportunities, level of innovation, increased competition and productivity, and new markets, as follows:
By launching a business with creative ideas and finding market niches, women entrepreneurs are able to generate income as well as employ others. In developing countries, welcoming foreign direct investment (FDI) provides employment in the country as well as technology transfer. Government support for macro finance and acquiring funds from international banks can assist women entrepreneurs in establishing more business. Thus, one of the greatest positive impacts that entrepreneurs make on an economy is creating employment opportunities while reducing unemployment and poverty.
Innovation and creativity is the driving factor behind entrepreneurship; hence, the biggest impact of women entrepreneurs to an economy is their innovative contribution. Where there is innovation there is a greater chance of success in new businesses. Highly innovative women entrepreneurs can disrupt market equilibrium by introducing new product-market combinations. Innovation in products, process and services drives the identification of new market niches and ways to offer new products and services in an appropriate manner.
Another positive impact of women entrepreneurship on an economy is increased competition as new entrepreneurs emerge. Competition reduces the likelihood of monopolies and oligopolies in the marketplace, which is beneficial to the consumer and economy as a whole. Moreover, increased competitiveness compels entrepreneurs and their firms to find ways to improve operational efficiency while adding value. This results in greater productivity in an economy and benefits the nation with an increase in their GDP. However, increased productivity could adversely cause increased unemployment. Nevertheless, increased unemployment could also motivate individuals to try harder to think of creative ideas and innovation, thereby leading them to become entrepreneurs and once again generating more employment opportunities.
Increased competition in the current marketplace could lead to saturated markets and drive women entrepreneurs to seek new markets. This may be regarded as a positive impact on the economy. When the economy flourishes, entrepreneurs tend to venture into international markets, thus generating foreign revenue and greater prosperity for the economy as a whole. To determine success in women entrepreneurship, there are three key factors - innovation, human capital and social capital.
Human capital, refers to the range of valuable skill sets and knowledge, i.e. tacit and explicit knowledge, and prior experience.
Social capital – women entrepreneurs rely on both formal and informal social networks to start and grow their business through bonding, binding and linking, all of which are crucial for survival, getting ahead and leveraging resources, ideas and information. As getting the right information from the right source at the right time is critical, social networking helps women entrepreneurs to stay ahead of the competition and optimise growth opportunities. Human and social capital appear to be particularly important for women entrepreneurs as women are more likely to protect the firm’s intellectual capital, while men tend to focus on fiscal issues.
Other auxiliary factors such as personal qualities, availability of resources, government support, access to financing, planning and budgeting, family support, management and interpersonal skills, experience and training have a strong influence on success.
Barriers to women entrepreneurship exist worldwide, but countries such as Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia face more gender equity issues than other countries. In general, South East Asian countries suffer mainly from social, cultural, psychological, economic, financial and religious problems.
Finally, the role of education is critical in generating intellectual capital to enable and enhance the capabilities of women entrepreneurs.
There is a need to develop more opportunities for self-learning and staff training to increase intellectual capital and further enhance the culture of innovation, social network building and knowledge utilisation. Rather than relying on traditional approaches to teach and train, up-to- date teaching and training methods should be developed using available technologies.
Women entrepreneurship development should ensure that women have access to mentoring and support networks to enhance their success. It is preferable that they are connected with international social and economic associations such as Women’s Forum, an international platform for networking and business opportunities. Having such a global bridge supports the emergence of new young women entrepreneurs, as well as helps those already established to step up to a higher level. It also fosters the level of confidence, initiative and entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE).
While considering the contribution of entrepreneurship to economic development, higher priority should be given to the creation of innovative products and services rather than project- oriented concepts. As the role of women becomes increasingly prominent, empowering women entrepreneurs should constitute a fundamental component in the development of an economy especially in developing countries. At the same time, governments need to carefully set sustainable national policies that not only promote the economy but also protect the society and environment.
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