ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA AND THE CREATION OF ENTREPRENEURIAL

OPPORTUNITY FOR WOMEN DURING COVID 19 ERUPTIONS IN TANZANIA

1.0 Introduction

The majority of women entrepreneurs in Tanzania are aged between 25 to 40 years, and have a
low level of education. On the one hand, these women entrepreneurs are a potential motor for the
economy to generate jobs and reduce poverty. On the other hand, multiple obstacles continue to
impede capacity to start and grow businesses in sectors that generate quality jobs. Although
many women have an untapped potential for entrepreneurial development, they are often
impeded by a lack of the necessary capacities, skills and resources. They face more
disadvantages than men due to legal impediments, cultural attitudes, less mobility and their
businesses tend to be younger and smaller than men’s. All of these areas came through in the
report, to varying degrees. Neema Mori (2014).

The woman plays a significance role in the economic development of any country. This is a
considerable factor with great emphasis on any developing scenario. Women contribute and
support the economy extensively in different ways by being employed in many different sectors.
Many successful businesses are run by women some of them whom are very skilled in
entrepreneurial activities. Some of these women are well educated and are aware of correct
world’s largest enterprises are owned and run by women today. In developing countries, some
women are running small enterprises many of which have proven to be successful. Women
entrepreneurs in both developing and developing countries are socially powerful in terms of
education and making a positive impact on a society, it is important to study how women in
business and their skills can be utilized to achieve a sustainable economy in a developing nation.

A key barrier is the cultural environment that makes it more difficult for women to start and run
enterprises based on traditional reproductive roles and power relations. Gender related
impediments also include challenges in claiming rights to property and assets which could be
pledged as collateral for loans and inequality in inheritance rights. Most women in Tanzania are
concentrated in informal, micro, low growth and low profit activities, where entry barriers are
low but price competition is intense. These include trade, food vending, tailoring, batik making,
beauty salons, decorations, local brewing, catering, pottery, food processing and charcoal selling.
Most women sell their products in the local market, with only small percentages selling
regionally and internationally. Other challenges are laws and regulations affecting businesses
(including licensing procedures) which are designed for relatively large projects and are
therefore difficult for women to comply with. Corruption and bureaucracy make matters worse,
especially for women, who are more vulnerable to pressure from corrupt officials. Some women
mentioned that they are being sexually harassed by different government officials (tax and
municipal officials) when these officials find their business has some problems. These challenges
happen because most women are not aware of their rights and do not know who to go for help
when such problems occur. Neema Mori (2014).

What for many is not obvious in a more advanced economy is that the social media in a country
like Tanzania is not only the social media but the MEDIA. Big difference! Because the
WhatsApp app on the phone is not for talking to Granny or mom but it is a business networking
tool, Instagram is not a platform to post (only) selfies at weddings and parties, but a free
advertising platform. Twitter is a great platform to vent and share ideas about politics and current
affairs but also to provide essential free information on important issues. Facebook allows
marketing of goods and now even added the “The shop” function but for many Tanzanians
selling their artisanal goods or services, their personal Facebook pages are still the first and
foremost tool for earning a living (Maria Serungi Tsehai 2017).

Social business fund is an innovative financial tool to eradicate poverty in developing countries.
It is believed that the fund is very popular among young entrepreneurs due to its low cost,
flexible repayment system, and available grace period. In fact, microcredit program have mainly
emphasized on maintaining higher repayment rate through practicing weekly repayment system
(WRS) (Mahmud et al,. 2019). Due to WRS of microcredit, entrepreneurs do not get expected
benefits (Mahmud et al,. 2019). All those problems can be solved through social business. Social
business provides. Social business provides equity capital to the sons and daughters of Grameen
Bank’s borrowers in order to help their second generation in order to come out of poverty with
the means of entrepreneurship. This unique idea is given by the Nobel Laureate Professor
Muhammad Yunus. In order to help poor children of Grameen borrowers, he launched a program
which is called Nobin Udyokta (NU) program where social business funds are given to the
young entrepreneurs. According to the report of the Udyokta (Nobin, 2016), it was told that
through gained rapid outreach among the male, very few women entrepreneurs participated in
this program (in 2016, Grameen Telecom Trust have 2148 male NU and 39 female NU).
Inclusion of more women is considered important means of achieving gender equality which is
one of the sustainable development goals. The NU program is designed for creating a world
without poverty using social business as a tool (Ferdousi and Mahmudi, 2018).

2.1 Social Media for entrepreneurs

Over the decades, numerous trends have been experienced in the business environment and got
withered in no time at all. Occasionally, the arrival of some phenomena holds the power to
change and influence the business environment to a great extent: one such phenomenon is social
media, which is often interchangeably used in term Web 2.0 (Kadam & Ayarekar, 2014). There
are varieties of social media platforms ranging from social networks, private social networks, to
blogs and micro-blogs (Shabbir et al., 2016). Some of the popular and widely used social
networking sites include; Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Skype, WhatsApp, Viber,
WordPress, YouTube, Flickr, Google+, Pinterest, Quora, Reddit and snapchat (Maina, 2018).
Despite in inception in 1997 (Shabbir et al., 2016), there was a boom in social media in the year
2000, when a major increase was seen in the number of social networking sites (Kadam &
Ayarekar, 2014). As a result, the way customers and entrepreneurs communicate transformed
because this platform allowed businesses to have greater access to a wider range of target
audiences; comprehend their varying needs and wants; improve and innovative products and
services; and encourage customer engagement with the business (Smith and Taylor, 2004;
Jagongo & Kinyua, 2013).

However, amongst all the social media sites, the most likely used social media platform by
businesses and marketers if Facebook (Sachs, 2016; Slabbert, 2018; Driver, 2018). According to
the reports of Statista (2018), the leading social media platforms for marketers all over the world
include Facebbok (94%), Instagram (66%), Twitter (62%), LinkedIn (56%), YouTube (50%),
Pinterest (27%) and snapchat (8%). Similarly, In Bangladesh, the majority of the online retailers
run through facebook (Gilchrist, 2018). Due to the various advantages of doing business in social
media, it has reshaped the conventional marketing methods in the country, starting from students
to housewives can commence a start-up on social media, since it does not require a physical
space or huge manpower (Farhin, 2018).
As stated by Mangold & Faulds (2009), social media can upsurge the customer base and market
share, which in turn can facilitate the growth strategies of a business. Logically, a two-way
communication between the customers and the business can provide information and ideas, to
enhance the quality of the business’s market offerings and also encourage them to innovate. The
platform can, therefore, provide opportunities to attract potential customers and retain the
existing ones, building a stronger relationship between the parties involved (Mangold & Faulds,
2009). Social media can help provide “marketing that is more effective, new communication and
distribution channels, shorter time to market, customized products, 24 Hour online technical
support, and online interactive community” (Mukolwe & Korir, 2016, p.249). The reason
businesses are taking full advantage of the social networking sites is because there is a new
generation of consumers whose buying behavior is very different from the previous groups of
consumers. This emergence of an entirely new economy on the internet is the outcome of
consumers seeking more convenience in shopping, better communication, more encouragement
and power to decide (Tigo, 2012 and Tosifyan & Tosifyan, 2017).

Entrepreneurs consider social media a useful tool because it encourages identification of

opportunities in the business environment (Park & Sung, 2017). There are varying views about
“Entrepreneurial opportunity”; where Schumpeter (1932) stated that one must look for new
information available in the market in order to create an opportunity, Kirzner (1997) on the other
hand argued that a business must use the existing information to discover an opportunity. Social
media is such a platform that has now enabled entrepreneurs to discover and create opportunities
by assessing both existing and new information by communicating and interacting with peers
and network (Park & Sung, 2017).

2.2 Business models and Gendered crisis response:

To date, very few studies focus specifically on gender differences in business recovery or
business model following natural disasters or economic shocks (Li el al., 2019). Somme
literature suggests that women and men respond differently to stress and external shocks by
managing their firms differently (Bradshaw, 2013; Young et al., 2017), while others suggest that
gender differences in survival are better explained by the different types of businesses that men
and women own and manage (Marshall et al., 2015). In a study of firms recovering from
Hurricane Andrew (Young et al., 2017) found that women-owned businesses experienced effects
that were more adverse during the recovery period. After the Wenchuan earthquake in New
Beichuan, China, Li et al,. (2019) found make business owners are more likely to succeed in
continuously operating their business than female owners. Following Hurricane Katrina,
Marshall et al., (2015) found that businesses owned by women were more likely to fail than
those owned by men, and that larger and older businesses, and those run by owners with more
industry experience and prior disaster experience, were less likely to fail. Research findings from
studies investigating gender differences in preparedness, responsiveness and benefits from
business reliefs are also mixed. In a study of the application process for federal disaster loans
following hurricane Katrina, Josephson and Marshall (2015) found that women owners are likely
to apply for disaster loans but, on average, received lower amounts, Hiramatsu and Marshall
(2018) found that receiving a small business administration (SBA) disaster loan after the
Hurricane Katrina played a positive and statistically significant role in determining the actual
revenue change and owner perception of revenues, but only for male owners. Following the 2008
financial crisis, one study concluded that women entrepreneurs dealt with the resulting recession
in a defensive manner, while men used an offensive approach (Cesarroni et al., 2018). Another
study of the global financial crisis found that women had lower demand for bank loans but there
more successful; concluding that feminized risk aversion might inform the most conservative
approach (Cowling et al., 2019) Alternatively, a comparative study of sole proprietors during the
financial crisis showed women personally take care of house and family, and therefore, had more
difficulty with work-family conflict and internal psychological balance than their male peers
(Cesaroni et al., 2018). In sum, prior research has suggested that women tend to be more
adversely affected by economic downturns and natural disasters and more likely to adopt a
defensive crisis response stance.

2.3 Entrepreneurship Theories

Women’s perspective toward success is different male counterpart. Various entrepreneurship

theories available in the literature provide various perspectives in determining women
entrepreneurship development issues. Female entrepreneurs do not view their businesses as
separate economic entities but rather endeavors entwined with other aspects of their lives
particularly their familial relationships and responsibilities (Jennings & Brush, 2013). The
feminine strategies are more business-focused strategies. Numerous studies indicate that women
are especially motivated to start their own businesses in the hopes of attaining a better balance
between work and family (Brush, 1990; Holmquist & Sundin, 1988; Hughes, 2005; Kaplan,
1988; Parasuraman & Simmers, 2001; Scott, 1986). Feminist theories that believe women
deserve equal political and legal rights (Beauchamp and Bowie, 2004). Kabeer (2016) argued
that women’s greater access to valued resources increases their bargaining power within the
household and ensures that household resources are allocated in closer alignment with their
preferences. Evolving from the feminist theories, the deprivation argument states that societal
views deprive women of education, industry experience, networking relationships, and access to
capital (Cron, Bruton & Slocum, 2006). Deprivation of these opportunities can affect women in
less empowerment in women’s education and training diminishes for women to advance in
entrepreneurial education and training diminishes opportunities for women to advance
entrepreneurial career (Dreher, 2003). Literatures on women’s entrepreneurship shows
relationship between and among human capital elements, such as level of education, area of
education, business training and experience from previous employment and motivation, business
performance, and income of the women entrepreneurs (Coleman, 2007). Bates (1990) found that
entrepreneurs who had a college education were dramatically less likely to fail than those who
did not. The significant relationship among education and firms’ survival, growth, success, and
profitability were also found in several other research. In addition, the concepts of the cultural
theory of entrepreneurship assumes that compared to male counterparts, women are less
successful in business based on counterparts (Smith-Hunter & Boyd, 2004), which is supported
by the disadvantage theory of entrepreneurship. Evidence shows that in most cultures, being an
entrepreneur is not an excuse for being relieved for her domestic responsibilities. This
encourages women business to remain smaller, with less capital, to have lower revenues, and
fewer employees and resides in lower point industries. Research also (Smith-Hunter & Boyd,
2004) revealed that bank loan officers tended to rate women business owners; thus, greater
dissatisfaction expressed by female entrepreneurs with respect with respect to banking
experiences and their lower propensity to apply for various forms of financing. However, forms
of financing. However, all those factors that interrupt women entrepreneurship development
might be overcooked through women empowerment tools which facilitate proactive behavior by
indicating an implemental behavior (Kabeer, 2016). Academic researchers have very limited
evidence on women entrepreneurship that will either validate or challenge the above-mentioned
theories of entrepreneurship. Therefore, this study takes an effort to add value to the women
entrepreneurship literature from the perspective of social business finding experience.