Women entrepreneurs on top

COMPARED: BUSINESS-MINDED WOMEN GO FAR

Only 47% of women and 42% of men can name a successful female entrepreneur.

Maison Veuve Clicquot unveiled an international barometer that maps out the current state of female entrepreneurship, shedding light on common prejudices, mental and structural barriers to be overcome.

The findings were revealed to over 100 of SA’s leading businesspeople at the Veuve Clicquot X Women experience, held last month in Johannesburg.

Guest speakers, including Johanna Mukoki, Amanda Dambuza, Lala Tuku and Azania Mosaka, unpacked the findings of the barometer.

The experience was created to encourage networking and offered guests the opportunity to engage.

And the findings are unequivocal: while women attach less importance than men to being their own boss (70% vs 78%), 78% of women wish to become entrepreneurs.

This is substantiated in SA’s strong culture of entrepreneurship with 48% of those surveyed identifying as entrepreneurs.

In South Africa, 91% of female “wantrepreneurs” feel that women entrepreneurs are inspiring. Yet only 47% of women and 42% of men can name a successful female entrepreneur.

Role models are key to women’s ability to envision their future and take the plunge into entrepreneurship. But role models alone no longer suffice. Women need not just inspiration but real assistance and support.

This new sisterhood marks a shift of perspective from role models to role makers: women who mentor, train, and inspire by championing other women, encouraging them to be bold and to spring into action.

Women are more aware of the risks of entrepreneurship than men: 44% feel that the risks of entrepreneurship are worth the rewards of success, vs 46% of men.

This greater awareness seems to underlie the higher level of risk-taking among women compared to men.

Women also seem to be more pragmatic than their male counterparts as they clearly picture the impact of entrepreneurship on their family life and anticipate the difficulty of balancing work and home.

In South Africa, 70% of women (vs 78% of men) aspire to become entrepreneurs. Although the current generation of women is more likely to take up the challenge with 78% of women aged 20-29 willing to give entrepreneurship a try, the gap narrows between men and women with men only marginally more willing at 81%.

But some think they are less credible than men (24% of women and 29% of men claim to experience the “impostor syndrome,” the feeling of being a fraud).

A total of 56% women confirm that fear of failure could dissuade them from taking the plunge (only 54% of men say they have felt that fear). In fact, 67% of women said they have already experienced a professional failure owing to their gender.

In addition, raising funds is a real challenge for women: according to 41%, men are more credible when trying to raise funds to finance their entrepreneurial project. And that figure climbs to more than 52% among South African entrepreneurial women.

Once those barriers are overcome, 69% of SA female entrepreneurs feel they need to show more authority than men to be respected (compared to 72% in France, 63% in the United Kingdom, 54% in Japan, 71% in Hong Kong). And when they do so, the behaviour is badly perceived: 56% of South

African female entrepreneurs believe that women entrepreneurs are considered too bossy. This figure is equal to or higher than the 50% recorded in other countries.

How can woman entrepreneurship be encouraged? By rethinking the way women entrepreneurs are perceived, by providing new frames of reference to rising generations, by acting purposefully, whether one is male or female.

Moreover, 87% of SA female wantrepreneurs said it was necessary to be supported by a network of women if they are to finally break through the glass ceiling.