Empowering women in business
Increasingly women are in charge of growing thriving businesses. I have had the opportunity to meet many women who are the owners of small businesses over the past months. It’s impossible not to be inspired by their vision, their drive, and their dedication to succeed. As we celebrate women this week, we must pause to recognize our women entrepreneurs and the major role they play in fostering social and economic development. Entrepreneurship is vital to a competitive knowledge based economy and this should compel policy-makers and government departments, universities, civil society and the business community to work cooperatively to identify and foster the conditions which will drive women to start new businesses and sustain its growth to become major contributors to the GDP. In similar manner, it should drive the authorities to remove or lower barriers to entry for new small, medium and micro enterprises. This will allow us to produce the elements of a healthy entrepreneurial ecosystem so that they become the cornerstones of policy, programmes, funding and human capital development.
The contributions of women still remain largely unrecognized by major actors in the entrepreneurial space. There still exists those who question the right of women to be decision makers in the corporate world and who believe that men should have final sign-off on important matters. This, in spite of the fact that research shows that women-led companies outperformed their peers three to one (The Hedge Fund Quantopian). Compensation for the work done by women remains at a fraction of what a man receives for the same kind of work. Women have more difficulty in accessing financing than men counterpart although the facts reveal that businesswomen have a better track record of loan repayment and have fewer bad debts. Equal access to financing remains a major problem. Equal access to contracts is also a major cause for concern. There still exists a boys’ club where many of the deals are made outside of the boardroom and in some instances there is absolutely no chance of a woman winning certain contracts. The few examples above are simply meant to highlight that while we have made some strides in levelling the playing field there is much more that needs to be done in bridging both the economic and social gender gaps.
Where do we start? How do can we shatter the conventional barriers and close the gaps that get in the way of women in business progressing? There must be better designed effective policies to empower women, stronger public-private dialogue and deliberate measures to increase women’s access to financing, information and business support services. This must be a key priority of the government if they are to unleash the true potential of women entrepreneurs. Beyond this however, is there a place for gender balance rules and laws?
Even in traditional media women remain largely under-represented and their contribution to our economies as business owners and leaders go largely unrecognised by mainstream news and media. How can we help to shift the balance and close this visibility gap? How can we champion more visibility for women-led ventures in Guyana? This is a conversation that must be had with the local media. I’m happy to see that this newspaper is responding to that need.
Many women are also the biggest hindrance to their own success as they suffer from limiting mindset where they question their own abilities to be successful as an entrepreneur. This can be most damaging, as one of the major factors critical for business owners when growing a successful business is mindset. Often, the difference between success and failure is our mindset; those with a fixed mindset will be limited as to how much they can achieve, while those with a growth mindset will not limit their ability to succeed. Ask yourself - where do I fall? Am I empowered to design and achieve the future I dream of?
It is important that women entrepreneurs support and contribute to the development of other women entrepreneurs. There are several ways for entrepreneurs to pay it forward and support other entrepreneurs. These include: 1. Passing along opportunities. 2. Looking for opportunities to work together for mutual benefit.
3. Promoting each other’s businesses and journeys through referrals and social media. 4. Mentoring So as we reflect on women this week, we are reminded that being an entrepreneur takes real determination and dedication and for women this dedication has to be multiplied in order to stay the course. As we forge a more gender inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem let’s be bold for change!
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