Financing the Celtic Tigress: Venture financing and informal investment in Ireland

Abstract

This study explores gender differences in entrepreneurship and informal investment in Ireland, a country with one of the lowest rates of female entrepreneurship in the developed world. Females in Ireland are less likely than males to be engaged in either the demand for (as entrepreneurs), or the supply of (as informal investors), entrepreneurial finance. Using Global Entrepreneurship Monitor data from a telephone survey of nearly 6 000 individuals, we present a comparative analysis of 73 female and 172 male nascent entrepreneurs, and 40 female and 91 male informal investors. We find no differences in the planned absolute financial capitalization of new ventures of female and male nascent entrepreneurs or in the investments made by female and male informal investors. We compare the full sample (from which we identified the nascent entrepreneurs) and find that females, when compared to males, are less likely to report perceiving opportunities, less likely to perceive they have the skills and knowledge required to start a business, and are less likely to know a recent entrepreneur. We argue that this might suggest that there may be less demand for start-up capital from females. We conclude by suggesting that policies that focus narrowly on the provision of finance to female entrepreneurs may have limited impact on the levels of female entrepreneurial activity.