Women Entrepreneurship

Objectives
To define the term women entrepreneurship and

general facts and emerging trends.

To describe reason why women start business.

Discuss problems faced by the women while starting

business.
Discuss problems with respect to women

entrepreneurship in Sri Lanka. (One of your

assignments)
 Women Entrepreneurship
A woman entrepreneur is defined as "an enterprise
owned and controlled by a woman and having a
minimum financial interest of 51% of the capital
and giving at least 51% of employment generated in
the enterprise to women.
Proportion of women entrepreneurs in various
regions
Europe 30%, South Asia 10%, USA 40%, Africa 8%,
Latin America 6%, Russia and eastern Europe 5%.
Women entrepreneur has defined as the women or a
group of women who initiate, organize & operate a
business enterprise.
General facts
In population more women % (2014 - 52.6%)
More women in education and Universities.
Some professional fields women are the majority.
In many homes women are the managers/kings.
In some districts female entrepreneurs are
outnumbered male entrepreneurs.
Females are dominated some business.

 General facts
In many societies women do not enjoy the same
opportunities as men.
In many transitional economies, progress has been
achieved in opening doors to education and health
protection for women but political and economic
opportunities for female entrepreneurs have remained
limited.
Concerted efforts are needed to enable female
entrepreneurs to make better economic choices and to
transform their businesses into competitive enterprises,
generating income and employment through improved
production (OECD, 1997).
 General facts
In countries with high levels of income, the women
enterprises contribute to 55 per cent of GDP and 65 per
cent of total employment and the contribution of the
women enterprises in low income countries is even larger.
However, middle income countries enjoy the largest
benefits from women enterprises contributing to 70 per
cent of GDP and 95 per cent of total employment in
these countries.
In Sri Lanka women enterprises contribute to 50 per cent
of GDP (Central Bank Sri Lanka, 2014).
General facts
Womens productive activities, particularly in
industry, empower them economically and enable
them to contribute more to overall development.
According to the United Nations Industrial
Development Organization, Whether they are
involved in small or medium scale production
activities, or in the informal or formal sectors,
womens entrepreneurial activities are not only a
means for economic survival but also have positive
social repercussions for the women themselves and
their social environment (UNIDO, 2001).
Push motives on women entrepreneurial start-ups

Reasonable living
Family pressure
Dissatisfaction of salary
Blocked promotion
Need to flexible
Under paid salary
Discrimination of labor economy
Education problem
No other alternative income
Small investment is required
Pull motives on women entrepreneurial start-ups
Need autonomy
Need achievement
Need independence
Be own boss
Need self esteem
Desire for wealth
Desire for social status
Personal development
Challenge seeking
Identify opportunity
Best use of expertise
Need for creative expansion
Problems faced by Women Entrepreneurs

Access to finance.
Access to some sectors (retail, hospitality,
services) but not for all sectors.
Knowledge of financial management.
Problems faced because of been a woman and her
body.
These women businesses have less failures
because... Focus, Less wastage, never giving up,
perseverance, determination, etc.
 Policies to create conducive environment for
women
The government should create a platform to ensure the delivery of
proper and result oriented entrepreneurial training and education
programs for women entrepreneurs in order to enhance their
entrepreneurial skills and abilities with business development service
providers.
The government regulatory framework and economic policies should
be updated and directed in order to promote entrepreneurship and
entrepreneurial culture within country.
Ensuring the accessibility to finance for women will become a greater
advantage for the economic development in regional areas.
Therefore, financial institutions including micro finance institutions are
needed to be concern while preparing their policies and plans to
create financially friendly climate for entrepreneurs