Speak Wednesday – Women Entrepreneurs

In recent years, most women venture into small scale enterprises, especially in developing Countries. This is mostly among uneducated women, who dropped out of school due to marriage, lack of sponsors or religious believes.

More women than men are involved in small scale enterprises because it has been the only way they can support their families and make ends meet, since women do not have the same access as men to finance, assets, technology or better services. They often have relatively lower levels of education, vocational training, and have to juggle the management of their businesses with domestic responsibilities.

Some of the major reasons women entrepreneurs experience difficulties in growing their businesses, is because the daily gains are spent on family expenses, rather than growing the business. Also, women cannot own or inherit landed properties in many agricultural societies, hence the inability to work independently and the right to associate in cooperatives and credit unions.

Women are better managers and history has shown how prudent they could be with funds. A little push and adequate monitoring can make women better entrepreneurs.