Women are establishing their own businesses and jumping over each and every barrier on the road to success. The 2021 Report of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor expressed that the narrative revolving around women's entrepreneurship globally is experiencing a slow shift. This has encouraged a high number of start-ups and higher-growth activities.
The Primary Obstacles
The common obstacles that women entrepreneurs face start with institutional factors. This includes the lack of women's financial inclusion, the gender gap in education and the legal rights disparities. They have stuck to the discussion as the key barrier for women with the urge to start their businesses. We can also state that access to finance is probably one of the most significant hurdles that women entrepreneurs come to terms with, if not all, at least in most countries. Even when women entrepreneurs are ready and are capable of receiving funding of various types, it is shocking to note that companies founded by women receive less than half of the investment capital as companies founded by male entrepreneurs receive. Data from the G20 and the World Bank also suggests that nearly a billion women are unbanked. The statistics point toward a persistent gender gap in access to basic accounts in the financial system.
Socio-cultural impediments such as social expectations, lack of business networking opportunities, skills gaps, and personal and professional life imbalance also demonstrate an essential role in limiting women from launching their own businesses.
The vitality of Women Entrepreneurship
Societal health is empowered by entrepreneurship. It facilitates wealth and performs the role of an engine when it comes to economic growth. When an entrepreneurial spirit fuses with a women's potential to succeed, it gives birth to innovation, promotes productivity, creates employment, and addresses some of society's most significant challenges, Likewise, the UN Sustainable Development Goals was established to counter the economic shock wave created by the COVID-19 pandemic.
There exists a lot of benefits to promoting women's entrepreneurship. It reflects the resilience quality of a human being. Experiences and stories have proved that women have successfully adapted to the disruptions that the pandemic created, even when they were more severely impacted. They have also acted as the catalyst for the birth of new market realities.
Reports by the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor speculated that about 30.2 per cent of women entrepreneurs are expected to hire six or more employees in the next five years in contrast to 48 per cent of male entrepreneurs. The names of successful female entrepreneurs in the present time are many and they serve as excellent examples and role models in the matter. They emulate and are further encouraging other women to make determined moves in their business projects and plans. Women's entrepreneurship is a weapon to narrow down the gender divide. As more and more women walk into the global marketplace and establish their own businesses, they will further push the walls that create the gender divide.
So what's the mantra to fight the gender gap in women's entrepreneurship?
According to established and successful women entrepreneurs all across the globe, it is important to create an environment, which is capable of sowing the seeds for sustainable women entrepreneurship. Governments and policymakers must take over and lead the movement to facilitate appropriate legal and policy environments to foster women's entrepreneurship. This measure can be initiated by providing qualitative education, training, and lifelong learning to more robust support for dedicated entrepreneurship training, mentoring, building entrepreneurial networks, improving access to finance and opening procurement markets to women. Meanwhile, society also has to make efforts to reduce informality, while also seeking government support.
Some famous entrepreneurs are of say that one must always trust themselves and never decide to give up. Developing elements like patience, endurance, perseverance, resilience, and adaptability will greatly help women willing to start their own businesses. They must make sure to self-develop and nurture themselves throughout their entrepreneurial journey. Every woman deserves to win. This conviction should be the driving force on their journey towards their goals and ambitions.
Everyone needs a mentor. As a woman entrepreneur you should observe, listen and take the guidance of a mentor, when you are knee-deep in a pool of difficulties. A mentor can even be one's family relatives, friends, employer organisations and others. They are the ones who will provide you with the booster that is required to proceed with your journey.
Make use of digital tools and technology as much as you can to the best of the facilities they provide. A key to growing and thriving in the market and industry is to grab the benefits that technology can provide in terms of information-sharing, funding avenues, new market outreach or innovation support.
Make use of employer organisations as your networking bridge. Make use of the extensive network and power that the organisation can provide and holds in their hands. One's employer organisation can greatly promote diversity and women's entrepreneurship. They can also empower them through various programs, networks, leadership programs and various kinds of dedicated events.
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