Critical Factors for the Development of Women Entrepreneurship in Retail Business of Bangladesh

Factors Influencing the Development of Women Entrepreneurship in Bangladesh

Development of women entrepreneurship in the SME sector has a crucial importance in a developing country like Bangladesh where women constitute half of the total population. The majority of them are underprivileged, under nourished, illiterate and poor. Hence, the development of women entrepreneurship has tremendous potentials for transforming the society through socioeconomic empowerment of the women. This potential is remained untapped in Bangladesh because of lower number of women entrepreneurs in business and economic activities. According to the Bangladesh Economic Review 2009, around six percent of the country’s $90 billion economy comes from SMEs, which is also the largest sector in terms of employment generation. But the women entrepreneurs are less than ten percent of the total entrepreneurs of the country. However, in the recent years, women entrepreneurship in small retail businesses of the country has been increasing which is a good sign for the positive growth of the economy.

Needless to say that the women entrepreneurs of Bangladesh lack behind in economic advancement and decision making abilities compared to men business entrepreneurs. Research shows that only seven percent of the total business establishments are owned and headed by women which are negligible in number in a country where more than 170 million people live. One of the reasons of poor development of women entrepreneurship is limited decision making abilities of the women at different level of the society. Hence, this study aims at identifying the factors related to the development of women decision making abilities among the women business entrepreneurs. This is a causal research and this study used primary data collected from the women entrepreneurs of seven administrative divisional head-quarters of Bangladesh enlisted in Bangladesh Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BWCCI) database. The study used both probability and non-probability sampling techniques to select 395 women business entrepreneurs who are involved in SME businesses for interview. The data were analyzed by using Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) techniques. The results show that the factors concerning women business entrepreneurship activities such as, enterprise management, enterprise resourcing, generating business ideas, and harvesting and growth are significantly related to the development of women entrepreneurship in Bangladesh. And the development of entrepreneurship helps developing decision making abilities of the women entrepreneurs. The entrepreneurial factors that help to improve the abilities of decision making of the women entrepreneurs are concerned with cognitive, affective and psychomotor factors. This study suggests that the policy makers of this sector should emphasize the enhancement of the decision making abilities of the women in formulating the SME policy for the sustainable economic development of Bangladesh.

Socioeconomic Factors of Women Entrepreneurship Development in Bangladesh

Policy Implications to Improve the Business Environment to Encourage Female Entrepreneurship in the North of Vietnam

Women participation in economic development has been identified to be of importance, most especially in the area of entrepreneurship. However, women the world over play a substantial role in the socio- economic and political development of any country. Given this, the current study examined the effect of socio-cultural factors on women entrepreneurship development in Kaduna state. The specific objectives of the study include: to examine the effect of religion on women entrepreneurship development in Kaduna State; to examine the effect of culture on women entrepreneurship development in Kaduna State; and to examine the effect of gender roles on women entrepreneurship development in Kaduna State. Using descriptive survey research design, data were collected from 332 women entrepreneurs in Kaduna metropolis and then analyzed via correlation and regression analyses techniques to examine the cause, effect, strength and degree of the relationship between socio-cultural factors and women entrepreneurship development. The study found that there is a significant relationship between socio-cultural factors and women entrepreneurship development in Kaduna metropolis, indicating significant relationships between religion and women entrepreneurship, between culture and women entrepreneurship and between gender role and women entrepreneurship development in Kaduna metropolis. The study recommends that women entrepreneurs in Kaduna metropolis should be proactive in doing business by bearing in mind various socio-cultural factors such as religion, culture and gender roles that may hinder the smooth running of their businesses.

This study investigates the role of microfinance services on women's entrepreneurship development in Assosa town. The study employed both descriptive and explanatory designs and a quantitative research approach. The study targeted 352 women clients of Assosa Woreda Microfinance Institution, and 165 samples were selected using a simple random sampling technique. The data were collected through a questionnaire and analyzed through the statistical package for social science (SPSS) 26 software. The findings from the descriptive mean analysis indicate that the microfinance institution financial and non-financial services offered were found unable to significantly empower disadvantaged and poor women by improving their livelihood and development of their business. The correlation result also indicated a positive and significant association between saving practice, access to credit, skill development training, and the development of women entrepreneurs. Finally, the regression result saving and the credit or loan services of the microfinance institution service have the most decisive influence on women's entrepreneurship development.

Purpose– This paper aims to identify developmental issues associated with women entrepreneurship, with the Malaysian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as a base. Subsequently, the paper also aims to devise certain stratagems and new policies for ensuring women entrepreneurial growth.Design/methodology/approach– An overview of the issues surrounding women entrepreneurship development in Malaysia is provided, drawing on the extant literature. The issues comprise cultural barriers, lack of spousal support, gender inequality, lack of confidence, weak social and business networking, few laws to support working families and neglected women entrepreneurs in the cottage industry, as well as domestic help and home-based childcare.Findings– Based on the issues identified, strategies are proposed to address them, contextualising on the gender aspect of women entrepreneurship.Practical implications– A summary is provided on the research and practical gaps from the perspective of strengthening women entrepreneurship and with the aim of encouraging further research in this area. The paper posits that an understanding of the gender aspect on issues related to the development of women entrepreneurship in Malaysia is required if policy measures are to be constructive in assisting women entrepreneurs in achieving their full entrepreneurial potential.Originality/value– Very limited studies have been undertaken in the past to assess the issues faced by women entrepreneurs in the context of overall development of women entrepreneurship. This is of great value to an SME-dominated economy such as Malaysia where the paper provides a comprehensive summary of the strategies and policy measures required to strengthen women entrepreneurship development.

This chapter gives an overview of women entrepreneurship in Montenegro. The chapter starts with offering a historical summary of a woman’s role in Montenegro, which serves as the basis for further analysis of the development of women entrepreneurship. It further analyzes demographic indicators, as well asobstacles and challenges which are relevant for the development of women entrepreneurship. The analysis shows that women entrepreneurship is a concept that is more used in Montenegrin economic theory, but it is hardly present in everyday life. Besides, there are no precise details on participation of women entrepreneurship in economy. A significant segment of the chapter is analysis of business environment and institutional support in the function of development of women entrepreneurship, with a special overview of the role of the strategy of the development of women entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurial activity brings employment, economic growth, and wealth and represents an essential component of the advanced economy. On the other hand, it is a fact that the participation of women in creating politics in Montenegro is insufficient, i.e., a relatively small number of women are present in the leading positions and positions for decision-making. The chapter finishes with offering recommendations and guidelines for future development of women entrepreneurship in Montenegro. In that sense, a key element for increasing women entrepreneurial activity is multiple support to greater number of women to get involved in the business. Women entrepreneurship in economically less developed countries helps women to avoid the trap of poverty. Additionally, women entrepreneurship breaks entrepreneurial stereotypes which are rooted in society for a long time.

The position of women in Serbia on the labor market is very unfavorable, so they represent a traditionally discriminated social group. One way to improve the position of women in society in Serbia is to encourage self-employment and the development of women entrepreneurship. Many measures have been implemented in order to develop women entrepreneurship in Serbia. This has led to the development of women entrepreneurship in Serbia, but it is developing very slowly, due to the influence of several factors. The subject of this chapter was to explain the genesis of the development of women entrepreneurship in Serbia and to analyze the limiting and incentive influencing factors of the development of women entrepreneurship in Serbia. Our research has shown that motives that have a significant impact on women in Serbia to start their own business are the need for higher earnings, necessity (unemployment), need for independence in work and autonomy, childcare, and need to provide a better future for the children. The key restrictions on women entrepreneurship in Serbia are lack of one’s own capital, lack of managerial knowledge and experience, lack of knowledge of the nature of business, childcare, and responsibilities in the home and the family.

Background and Purpose: Volume and sophistication of scientific research related to different aspects of entrepreneurship have significantly increased in recent years. Many authors point out the positive influence that development of micro, small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurship has on economic growth and job creation. According to various researchers, youth entrepreneurship and women entrepreneurship are two very important elements of this global phenomenon. The purpose of this paper is to provide the analysis of strategic framework for the support to the development of youth and women entrepreneurship in Serbia. Design/Methodology/Approach: Situational analysis of youth and women employment and examination of official Government strategic documents related to strategic framework for the support to the development of youth and women entrepreneurship in Serbia will be conducted. Results: Concrete activities have to be performed by different stakeholders, mostly non-government organizations. The activity stakeholders are on the bottom of the institutional framework, which provides the support to MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) sector that will execute the operations in accordance with the defined strategic framework. Conclusion: Youth-run enterprises provide numerous benefits for society; they reduce youth unemployment and help young people prepare for their future. Female entrepreneurs also have strong economic and social impact.

PurposeThe main purpose of this research is to investigate factors influencing rural women entrepreneurship development and sustainable rural livelihoods in Manicaland province of Zimbabwe.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative research was conducted in Manicaland province in Zimbabwe. Data were collected through structured questionnaires from 400 women entrepreneurs in various sectors. The participants were in vegetable vending, operating clothing flea markets and cross border trading. A self-administered structured questionnaire was used to collect data from respondents. Structural equation modeling in SmartPLS version 3 was used to test the research hypotheses.FindingsThe study established that women entrepreneurship is driven by financial factors, positive environmental factors, positive psychological factors as well as positive sociological factors for a sustainable rural livelihood.Research limitations/implicationsIt is clear that if the discovered challenges are not addressed, sustainability of women entrepreneurship will remain a dream.Practical implicationsThe study came up with strategies for improving women entrepreneurship activities. Future research can be done in other areas of provinces to avoid generalization challenges.Social implicationsMany challenges hinder the sustainability of women entrepreneurship. Major impediments to women entrepreneurship comprises inadequate support from government schemes, patriarchal societal structure of the community, lack of relevant entrepreneurial knowledge to manage businesses, lack of collateral security to access funding, time limitation or role conflict to balance family pressures and business.Originality/valueThe study recommends proper entrepreneurship education and training, supportive government schemes and access to network affiliation/connection to sustain women entrepreneurship.

This research was conducted to examine the impact of decision-making empowerment on women entrepreneurship development in Yemen. Two dimensions of decision-making empowerment were used; economic decision making, and household decision-making empowerment. This study employed the quantitative approach and the method of collecting data was the online-questionnaire. The targeted sample size of this study was 200 business women in Yemen and the response rate was 96.5%. The results of the correlational analysis show that there is a clear strong positive correlation between decision-making empowerment and women entrepreneurship development. In addition, the two dimensions; economic decision making, and household decision-making have a significant relationship with women entrepreneurship development. The results of the regression analysis reveal that decision-making empowerment has a significant impact on women entrepreneurship development and the economic decision-making empowerment and household decision-making empowerment were explaining women entrepreneurship development. It can be concluded that empowering women by allowing them to participate in economic and household decision-making appears to be one of the important factors for developing women's entrepreneurship in particular, which in turn will help reduce poverty as well as achieve economic growth.

Women's development is the major concern of the country at present. The government of Bangladesh has been trying to do this job by undertaking various programs and activities. Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development has also been involved in developing the model for women's entrepreneurship development. BARD had started the program of women's development in 1959 and still, it has been going on in implementing this program. The general objective of the study was to analyze and review critically the role of BARD in women's entrepreneurship development in the country. The study indicated that the action research projects of BARD of the 1960s and 1970s were more congenial to develop women entrepreneurs as compared to current ongoing action researches.

The report presents an up-to-date picture of the situation of women entrepreneurs in Tanzania and assesses the current environment supporting Women's Entrepreneurship Development through a set of six framework conditions which are having (i) a gender-sensitive legal and regulatory system, (ii) an effective policy leadership and coordination for the promotion of WED, (iii) access to gender-sensitive financial services, (iv) access to gender-sensitive BDS services, (v) access to markets and technology and (vi) representation of women entrepreneurs and participation in policy dialogue. To undertake the study, researchers carried out thorough desk reviews, various in-depth interviews with key stakeholders as well as surveys with 200 women entrepreneurs and focus group discussions in 2012-2013.