Date post: | 15-Jul-2015 |
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Business |
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Female Entrepreneurship in Transitional
Economies:
an In-depth Comparative Study about Challenges
facing Female Entrepreneurs in Nigeria and Egypt
Dina Ayman, Egypt
Rafiu Akinpelu Olaore, Nigeria
Why Female Entrepreneurship?
• Women generate income for their families,
but they also create jobs for men and women alike.
• The GEM (2012) , an estimation of 126 million women
were starting and/or running new businesses around
the world, and these women are not only creating jobs for themselves,
employees, suppliers and their co-founders.
• Boutros (2013) mentions in her article that Egypt’s GDP would increase by
34% if Egyptian women’s participation in the labor market was that of
males.
Why study the Challenges facing Women…?
• Identify the problems they face to overcome them
and pave the way for future females to choose self-
employment as a career path………..
Research Contribution…..
• This is amongst early researches undertaken as a comparative
mode between Egypt and Nigeria….
• Early papers to Consider Egypt and Nigeria as separate
countries not within MENA/Sub-Saharan Africa context….
• Most papers undertake the quantitative research method not
the in-depth qualitative methodology….
Research Methodology….
• In-depth Interviewed 20 women; 10 Nigerian vs 10 Egyptian women
• Why Qualitative?
1) Scarcity of the literature reviewed
on topic in Egypt and/or Nigeria….
2) Undertake this “inquisitive”
methodology when dealing with humanities, and social sciences, unlike the sureness of mathematics which require the “descriptive” approach between two ascertained variables….
Research Findings…….
Challenges facing women entrepreneurs:
Gender-Specificchallenges only confined to
women and not found amongst
male entrepreneurs
Country-Specific challenges that are found in
Nigeria and Egypt and are
applicable to both male and
female entrepreneurs
Gender-Specific challenges:
1) Psychological pressure: Lack of an
understanding and/or supportive partner…..“does not encourage me at all”
“limits my ambitions”
“yes wish could not have married”
‘”an un-needed emotional burden”
• Lack of freedom of mobility for women
“girls don’t travel alone”
What if I wanted to
travel to
China to get cheap
supplies
Specific challenges:-Gender
2) Societal pressure: family and friends;
being a housewife is the prime role of women…..• 30% of the random
sample
interviewed
were married while
others singles or divorced…..
• Why? Women should be submissive and
inferior to the man……….and the business woman
is successful so he is afraid of her success
Gender-Specific challenges:
3) Work-Life Imbalance:
• Lack of concept of co-operation; and prevalence of
role-division in house chores performance…..
Men are “bread-winners” and Women are responsible
domestically………..
Specific challenges:-Gender
• Absence of widespread child-care nurseries in
both countries….
EX: Poland
2011 law allows greater flexibility
• set up nurseries
• provide a state-funded
insurance program that
pays for baby sitters…..
Specific challenges:-Gender
Why the culture challenge is mainly African?
• We lag behind westerns in their feminist movements
• Egypt gained freedom 1952….
• Nigeria gained freedom 1960…
• Started in US in 1920s,
we were colonized attempting
to free the whole country not a certain sector of the
society….
Country-Specific Challenges….
Weak
entrepreneurial
framework
Challenge
of social
capital
prevalence
For women
Difficulty access to
Funding
for women
Lack of
business
incubators
Country-Specific Challenges….(cont’d)
1) Difficulty of Access to funding:• Cumbersome and lengthy
procedures
“hardly to be met”…….
• High collateral….
EX: banks require 3000 monthly income?
Bank refused her apartment for its size…
Upper Egypt no land ownership for women!.
• Compared to concept of “Grameen
bank”
Micro-credit concept?
Country-Specific Challenges….(cont’d)
2) Lack of business incubators:
• Provide technical assistance (well trained labor,
suppliers, or business consultancy)
• Create entrepreneurial ecosystem
• A respondent said…”I wish!”
“never heard of such a thing”
• Egypt: Lazy employees &
lack of vocational education
Country-Specific Challenges….(cont’d)
3) No informal Social Capital:
• No informal relationships allowed outside
business boundaries…..
• Only virtual networks not face-to-face meetings…..
• Absence of Silicon valley girls
who meet weekly for yoga and piano
and sharing personal life…….
• This can nurture
business relationships…..
Country-Specific Challenges….(cont’d)
4) Weak Entrepreneurial Framework:
• Nigeria: weak transportation
system
• Corruption and bribery is the norm in both countries
• Ex: “have a civil servant back up”
“pay to get basic facilities,
such as water, electricity”
• the absence of industrial zones,
• the absence of enforced legislation to protect competition (IPR)
Public Policy recommendations…
1) Long-Term solutions:
Change “mind-set” that women are
inferior…
• Entrepreneurship can be a career path by allowing successful women to go to schools as role models to youngsters….
• TV programs & shows present successful women
• Competition among girls best business plan in return for 5000$ as a business star-up….
• Eliminate fairy tale stories that teach girls that she is weak waiting for her prince charming to rescue her….
Recommendations……
2) Short-Term:• Encourage wide spread nurseries;
land free of charge land for certain period of
time…
• Grameen bank concept of micro-credit
especially in rural areas
• Facilitate bank requirements; collateral
• Social capital online;
a website with names of suppliers in the area
• Business consultancy incubators for women;
land free of charge and tax
• THANK You!