Funding women entrepreneurs
INDONESIA’S Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Susi Pudjiastuti is not the most polished or articulate speaker at the World Assembly for Women (WAW), but she can certainly hold her own and garner the audience’s attention.
One of the main topics at the conference was on promoting women’s entrepreneurship, and Susi began her session at the panel discussion on “Women and Entrepreneurship” by declaring that she had no choice but to start her own business because she dropped out of high school.
“Without high school qualifications, I couldn’t get a job,” recalled the 52-year-old tattooed self-made businesswoman who was appointed to President Joko Widodo’s Cabinet in 2014.
The high school dropout from a small town in West Jawa built a fisheries business over 30 years ago before turning to aviation 10 years ago, and she said her gender has never been a hindrance.
“Liberate yourself. Believe that you can do more and increase your capabilities. Get rid of your limitations,” said Susi, offering the formula of her success to women entrepreneurs.
She also advised women to find their niche, to do what no one else is doing.
“I am lazy, I do not like competition. So, I went into a business that nobody was doing. I also only do things I like.
“It’s only when you are happy that you are energised,” added Susi, who has famously tackled Indonesia’s problem with illegal fishing by blowing up foreign boats that infringed on its territories.
But she also acknowledged the many obstacles to women entrepreneurship, especially the limited access to credit facilities to start and scale up businesses.
“When I needed credit facilities, the banks wouldn’t lend to me. It’s only after I had expanded my business and no longer needed the loans that the bank came to me,” said Susi, emphasising the need for government intervention to promote women entrepreneurship.
Speakers at WAW stressed that funding women entrepreneurs is one of the best ways to spur greater gender equality.
But like Susi, 70% of women entrepreneurs in the developing world can’t access the financing they need. They also face other constraints, such as limited access to technology and the market and a lack of networks and knowledge resources.
To address this issue, the World Bank created the Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) at the recent G20 conference in July.
This initiative will channel funds to advance female entrepreneurship and help women in developing countries increase their access to finance, markets, technology, and networks necessary to start and grow a business. We-Fi already has more than US$340mil in donor commitment; Japan pledged US$50mil.
At home, Japan is also actively encouraging women entrepreneurship.
Yokohama mayor Fumiko Hayashi said she appointed a dedicated official in her municipal council to provide women entrepreneurs with consistent support, which includes giving them opportunities to engage with the public, increase sales and learn to expand their business.
In six years, they have supported 220 women entrepreneurs, with 80% still in business.