Most countries continue to be unfriendly for women entrepreneurs

The 2014 Gender-GEDI (Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index) survey has found that three quarters of the 30 countries surveyed do not have “the most fundamental conditions required for female entrepreneurs to prosper”.

Commissioned by Dell, and released at the fifth DWEN (Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network) event in Austin on Monday, the second annual survey found that for the second year the US continued to top the chart in being the most favourable place providing the right entrepreneurial ecosystems and business environment to meet the aspirations of women entrepreneurs. While the US scored a high 83, Australia came second with a score of 80, followed by Sweden, France and Germany with 73 and 67. India is at the bottom of the pile, getting the 26th position and a low score of 26, below Nigeria (29) Morocco and Ghana, each with 27.

The four counties worse off than India when it comes to women starting their own enterprises are Uganda, Egypt, Bangladesh and Pakistan; the last at the bottom of the pile with a miserable score of 11.

Urging governments and policymakers to do more to support female entrepreneurship, the report noted that adequate access to capital – sometimes even something as fundamental as a formal bank account – is crucial for women to start their own business ventures.

“However, in 14 of the 30 countries, 50 per cent or more of the female population is unbanked, with the gender disparities being the highest in Turkey, where there is a 50 per cent difference between men and women with bank accounts.”

Formal employment In the emerging markets, the news is equally bad for job opportunities in the formal sectors.

“In India and Pakistan, formal employment is so highly sex segregated that no employment sector is balanced,” notes the report. Better gender rights and more women at top positions can improve the environment for female entrepreneurship, it says.

However, the good news for the emerging economies is that female start-up activities is higher in these countries, compared to the US and Europe. Opportunity perception is rather low in these developed countries compared to Africa, where the number is a high 69 per cent. In many African countries there are 86 start-ups by women for every 100 by men.

Surprisingly, Ghana has more female start-ups than male at a rate of 121 to 100! The same is true of Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Karen Quintos, senior Vice-President and chief marketing officer, Dell, reiterated the global major’s commitment to empower people everywhere with technology solutions, and said that this survey gives valuable insights that help advance women’s enterprises and improve global economy.

(The writer is in Austin on an invitation from Dell)

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