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• 09 Apr 2024
• Cold Call Podcast

Sustaining a Legacy of Giving in Turkey

Özyeğin Social Investments was founded by Hüsnü Özyeğin, one of Turkey's most successful entrepreneurs, with a focus on education, health, gender equality, rural development, and disaster relief in Turkey. The company and the Özyeğin family have spent decades serving and improving communities in need. Their efforts led to the creation of one of Turkey’s top universities, the establishment of schools and rehabilitation centers, post 2023 earthquake humanitarian shelter and facilities, nationwide campaigns, and an internationally recognized educational training initiative for young children, among other achievements. Harvard Business School senior lecturer Christina Wing and Murat Özyeğin discuss how the company is a model for making a significant impact across multiple sectors of society through giving and how that legacy can be sustained in the future, in the case, “Özyeğin Social Investments: A Legacy of Giving."

• 22 Mar 2024
• Research & Ideas

Open Source Software: The $9 Trillion Resource Companies Take for Granted

Many companies build their businesses on open source software, code that would cost firms $8.8 trillion to create from scratch if it weren't freely available. Research by Frank Nagle and colleagues puts a value on an economic necessity that will require investment to meet demand.

• 12 Mar 2024

How to Bring Good Ideas to Life: The Paul English Story

Paul English is one of the most imaginative and successful innovators of his generation. He cofounded several companies, including Kayak, before starting Boston Venture Studio, where he is currently a partner. This multimedia case, “Bringing Ideas to Life: The Story of Paul English,” explores his process of creative idea generation, examining how he was able to bring so many ideas to market. In this episode, Harvard Business School professor Frances Frei and English discuss how to tell the difference between a good idea and a bad one, the importance of iteration, and taking a systematic (but fast) approach to developing new ideas. They also explore how his process dovetails with Frei’s “move fast and fix things,” strategy from her recent book.

• 05 Dec 2023

What Founders Get Wrong about Sales and Marketing

Which sales candidate is a startup’s ideal first hire? What marketing channels are best to invest in? How aggressively should an executive team align sales with customer success? Senior Lecturer Mark Roberge discusses how early-stage founders, sales leaders, and marketing executives can address these challenges as they grow their ventures in the case, “Entrepreneurial Sales and Marketing Vignettes.”

• 10 Oct 2023

Scaling Two Businesses Against the Odds: Wendy Estrella’s Founder’s Journey

Entrepreneur Wendy Estrella is attempting to simultaneously scale her law practice, as well as her property management and development company. What strategy will benefit both businesses, and is there a downside to scaling them together, rather than focusing on each one separately? Harvard Business School senior lecturer Jeffrey Bussgang and Estrella discuss her unique founder’s journey – from immigrating to the U.S. to building both of her businesses in Lawrence, Massachusetts despite the specific challenges she faced as a minority entrepreneur. The related case is “Wendy Estrella: Scaling Multiple Businesses.”

• 01 Aug 2023

Can Business Transform Primary Health Care Across Africa?

mPharma, headquartered in Ghana, is trying to create the largest pan-African health care company. Their mission is to provide primary care and a reliable and fairly priced supply of drugs in the nine African countries where they operate. Co-founder and CEO Gregory Rockson needs to decide which component of strategy to prioritize in the next three years. His options include launching a telemedicine program, expanding his pharmacies across the continent, and creating a new payment program to cover the cost of common medications. Rockson cares deeply about health equity, but his venture capital-financed company also must be profitable. Which option should he focus on expanding? Harvard Business School Professor Regina Herzlinger and case protagonist Gregory Rockson discuss the important role business plays in improving health care in the case, “mPharma: Scaling Access to Affordable Primary Care in Africa.”

• 05 Jul 2023

How Unilever Is Preparing for the Future of Work

Launched in 2016, Unilever’s Future of Work initiative aimed to accelerate the speed of change throughout the organization and prepare its workforce for a digitalized and highly automated era. But despite its success over the last three years, the program still faces significant challenges in its implementation. How should Unilever, one of the world's largest consumer goods companies, best prepare and upscale its workforce for the future? How should Unilever adapt and accelerate the speed of change throughout the organization? Is it even possible to lead a systematic, agile workforce transformation across several geographies while accounting for local context? Harvard Business School professor and faculty co-chair of the Managing the Future of Work Project William Kerr and Patrick Hull, Unilever’s vice president of global learning and future of work, discuss how rapid advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation are changing the nature of work in the case, “Unilever's Response to the Future of Work.”

• 16 May 2023
• In Practice

After Silicon Valley Bank's Flameout, What's Next for Entrepreneurs?

Silicon Valley Bank's failure in the face of rising interest rates shook founders and funders across the country. Julia Austin, Jeffrey Bussgang, and Rembrand Koning share key insights for rattled entrepreneurs trying to make sense of the financing landscape.

• 14 Mar 2023

Can AI and Machine Learning Help Park Rangers Prevent Poaching?

Globally there are too few park rangers to prevent the illegal trade of wildlife across borders, or poaching. In response, Spatial Monitoring and Reporting Tool (SMART) was created by a coalition of conservation organizations to take historical data and create geospatial mapping tools that enable more efficient deployment of rangers. SMART had demonstrated significant improvements in patrol coverage, with some observed reductions in poaching. Then a new predictive analytic tool, the Protection Assistant for Wildlife Security (PAWS), was created to use artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to try to predict where poachers would be likely to strike. Jonathan Palmer, Executive Director of Conservation Technology for the Wildlife Conservation Society, already had a good data analytics tool to help park rangers manage their patrols. Would adding an AI- and ML-based tool improve outcomes or introduce new problems? Harvard Business School senior lecturer Brian Trelstad discusses the importance of focusing on the use case when determining the value of adding a complex technology solution in his case, “SMART: AI and Machine Learning for Wildlife Conservation.”

• 17 Jan 2023

8 Trends to Watch in 2023

Quiet quitting. Inflation. The economy. This year could bring challenges for executives and entrepreneurs, but there might also be opportunities for focused leaders to gain advantage, say Harvard Business School faculty members.

• 10 Jan 2023

Time to Move On? Career Advice for Entrepreneurs Preparing for the Next Stage

So many people shift from one job to the next, with little time to consider how the experience changed them and what they want out of future ventures. Julia Austin recommends that entrepreneurs look within and reflect on these questions before they jump into a new opportunity.

• 03 Jan 2023

Wordle: Can a Pandemic Phenomenon Sustain in the Long Term?

Wordle went from a personal game, created by a developer for his girlfriend, to a global phenomenon with two million users in just a few months. Then The New York Times made an unexpected bid to acquire it. But will Wordle outlast other pandemic pastimes? Harvard Business School senior lecturer Christina Wallace discusses the journey of software engineer and accidental entrepreneur Josh Wardle in the case, “Wordle.”

• 26 Oct 2022

How Paid Promos Take the Shine Off YouTube Stars (and Tips for Better Influencer Marketing)

Influencers aspire to turn "likes" into dollars through brand sponsorships, but these deals can erode their reputations, says research by Shunyuan Zhang. Marketers should seek out authentic voices on YouTube, not necessarily those with the most followers.

• 19 Oct 2022

Cofounder Courtship: How to Find the Right Mate—for Your Startup

Like any other long-term partnership, choosing the right cofounder is a complicated decision with big implications for a venture. Julia Austin offers practical advice for entrepreneurs who are searching for "the one."

• 06 Sep 2022

Reinventing an Iconic Independent Bookstore

In 2020, Kwame Spearman (MBA 2011) made the career-shifting decision to leave a New York City-based consulting job to return to his hometown of Denver, Colorado, and take over an iconic independent bookstore, The Tattered Cover. Spearman saw an opportunity to reinvent the local business to build a sense of community after the pandemic. But he also had to find a way to meet the big challenges facing independent booksellers amid technological change and shifting business models. Professor Ryan Raffaelli and Spearman discuss Spearman’s vision for reinventing The Tattered Cover, as well as larger insights around how local businesses can successfully compete with online and big box retailers in the case, “Kwame Spearman at Tattered Cover: Reinventing Brick-and-Mortar Retail.”

• 16 Aug 2022

Now Is the Time for Entrepreneurs to Play Offense

With the specter of recession looming, many worried founders and executives are aggressively shoring up cash. But shrewd entrepreneurs are using these six tactics instead to gain advantage, says Jeffrey Bussgang.

• 26 Jul 2022

Can Bombas Reach New Customers while Maintaining Its Social Mission?

Bombas was started in 2013 with a dual mission: to deliver quality socks and donate much-needed footwear to people living in shelters. By 2021, it had become one of America’s most visible buy-one-give-one companies, with over $250 million in annual revenue and 50 million pairs of socks donated. Later, as Bombas expanded into underwear, t-shirts, and slippers, the company struggled to determine what pace of growth would best allow it to reach new customers while maintaining its social mission. Harvard Business School assistant professor Elizabeth Keenan discusses the case, "Bee-ing Better at Bombas."

• 07 Jul 2022

How a Multimillion-Dollar Ice Cream Startup Melted Down (and Bounced Back)

A Brooklyn-based ice cream shop was getting buzz, and Disney was pitching a brand partnership. So how did the business wind up filing for bankruptcy? A case study by Thomas Eisenmann and Lindsay N. Hyde examines the rise and fall—and recent rebound—of Ample Hills Creamery.

• 10 May 2022

Being Your Own Boss Can Pay Off, but Not Always with Big Pay

Working for yourself might bring freedom and autonomy, but it increasingly comes with a major risk: low pay. Research by William Kerr explores the shifting sands of self-employment.

• 03 May 2022

Can a Social Entrepreneur End Homelessness in the US?

Community Solutions is a nonprofit founded in 2011 by Rosanne Haggerty, with the ambitious goal of ending chronic homelessness in America. Its “Built for Zero” methodology takes a public health approach, helping communities across the US use better data collection and outreach to improve government processes and piecemeal solutions. In 2021, Community Solutions was awarded a $100 million grant from the MacArthur Foundation, and Haggerty and her team had to decide how to prioritize projects and spending to maximize the grant’s impact. Should they continue to focus on unhoused veterans or expand their work to include families and youth in need of housing? Senior Lecturer Brian Trelstad discusses Haggerty’s approach in his case, "Community Solutions."

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Entrepreneurship as Experimentation

Entrepreneurship research is on the rise, but many questions about its fundamental nature still exist. We argue that entrepreneurship is about experimentation: the probabilities of success are low, extremely skewed, and unknowable until an investment is made. At a macro level, experimentation by new firms underlies the Schumpeterian notion of creative destruction. However, at a micro level, investment and continuation decisions are not always made in a competitive Darwinian contest. Instead, a few investors make decisions that are impacted by incentive, agency, and coordination problems, often before a new idea even has a chance to compete in a market. We contend that costs and constraints on the ability to experiment alter the type of organizational form surrounding innovation and influence when innovation is more likely to occur. These factors not only govern how much experimentation is undertaken in the economy, but also the trajectory of experimentation, with potentially very deep economic consequences.

Entrepreneurship research is on the rise, but many questions about its fundamental nature still exist. We argue that entrepreneurship is about experimentation: the probabilities of success are low, extremely skewed, and unknowable until an investment is made. At a macro level, experimentation by new firms underlies the Schumpeterian notion of...

• January 2014 (Revised October 2014)

Andreessen Horowitz

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), a venture capital firm launched in 2009, has quickly broken into the VC industry's top ranks, in terms of its ability to invest in Silicon Valley's most promising startups. The case recounts the firm's history; describes its co-founders' motivations and their strategy for disrupting an industry in the midst of dramatic structural change; and asks whether a16z's success to date has been due to its novel organization structure. a16z's 22 investment professionals are supported by 43 recruiting and marketing specialists—an "operating team" that is an order of magnitude larger than that of any other VC firm. Furthermore, the operating team aims to not only assist a16z portfolio companies, but also to be broadly helpful to all parties in the Silicon Valley ecosystem, including search firms, journalists, PR agencies, and Fortune 500 executives. The bet: by providing "no-strings-attached" help to ecosystem partners, the partners might someday reciprocate by steering founders seeking funding to a16z. The case closes by asking whether a16z should seek to double its scale over the next years.

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), a venture capital firm launched in 2009, has quickly broken into the VC industry's top ranks, in terms of its ability to invest in Silicon Valley's most promising startups. The case recounts the firm's history; describes its co-founders' motivations and their strategy for disrupting an industry in the midst of dramatic...

• February 2014
• Background Note

Raising Startup Capital

Entrepreneurs typically focus their full energies on business-building. But raising capital is a core part of building a valuable business. Developing expertise in raising capital is more than a necessary evil, it is a competitive weapon. Master it and you will be in a better position to make your company a massive success. But how do you finance a new venture? In this note, I will try to help answer this question by addressing the following topics: Types of funding. The two major types of startup capital are equity funding and debt funding although there are a few hybrid flavors as well. Sources of funding. These include venture capital firms, angel investors, crowd-funding, and accelerators/incubators. What investors look for. Each source has a different funding process and set of criteria which you need to understand before seeking funding from that source. The mechanics of equity funding. Seeking and securing funding involves setting amounts, agreeing to terms, and defining relationships.

Entrepreneurs typically focus their full energies on business-building. But raising capital is a core part of building a valuable business. Developing expertise in raising capital is more than a necessary evil, it is a competitive weapon. Master it and you will be in a better position to make your company a massive success. But how do you finance...

• January 2014

The Consequences of Entrepreneurial Finance: Evidence from Angel Financings

This paper documents that ventures that are funded by two successful angel groups experience superior outcomes to rejected ventures: they have improved survival, exits, employment, patenting, web traffic, and financing. We use strong discontinuities in angel funding behavior over small changes in their collective interest levels to implement a regression discontinuity approach. We confirm the positive effects for venture operations, with qualitative support for a higher likelihood of successful exits. On the other hand, there is no difference in access to additional financing around the discontinuity. This might suggest that financing is not a central input of angel groups.

This paper documents that ventures that are funded by two successful angel groups experience superior outcomes to rejected ventures: they have improved survival, exits, employment, patenting, web traffic, and financing. We use strong discontinuities in angel funding behavior over small changes in their collective interest levels to implement a...

• September 2014 (Revised December 2014)

The Ullens Center for Contemporary Art

Since its opening in Beijing in November 2007 as the first non-profit art center in China, UCCA had been operating with the mission to "promote the continued development of the Chinese art scene, foster international exchange, and showcase the latest in art and culture to hundreds of thousands of visitors each year." For the past six years, UCCA had worked with more than 100 artists and designers to present 87 art exhibitions and 1,826 public programs to over 1.8 million visitors, including many important leaders from all over the world. Given the context of the economic and political environment in the rapidly changing Chinese art market, the founders and senior management of UCCA wondered what they could do to achieve growth and financial viability while continuing to realize their mission.

Since its opening in Beijing in November 2007 as the first non-profit art center in China, UCCA had been operating with the mission to "promote the continued development of the Chinese art scene, foster international exchange, and showcase the latest in art and culture to hundreds of thousands of visitors each year." For the past six years, UCCA...

• Discussion Paper

The Promise of Microfinance and Women's Empowerment: What Does the Evidence Say?

The microfinance revolution has transformed access to financial services for low-income populations worldwide. As a result, it has become one of the most talked-about innovations in global development in recent decades. However, its expansion has not been without controversy. While many hailed it as a way to end world poverty and promote female empowerment, others condemned it as a disaster for the poor. Female empowerment has often been seen as one of the key promises of the industry. In part, this is based on the fact that more than 80% of its poorest clients, i.e., those who live on less than $1.25/day, are women. This paper discusses what we have learned so far about the potential and limits of microfinance and how insights from research and practice can help inform the industry's current products, policies and future developments.

The microfinance revolution has transformed access to financial services for low-income populations worldwide. As a result, it has become one of the most talked-about innovations in global development in recent decades. However, its expansion has not been without controversy. While many hailed it as a way to end world poverty and promote female...

Initiatives & Projects

Our long tradition of research in Entrepreneurship goes back to the 1930's and 1940's with the “the father of venture capitalism,” General Georges Doriot, and Joseph Schumpeter’s theory of innovation as a process of “creative destruction.” Building on our intellectual roots, our scholars come from disciplines including economics, finance, sociology, strategy, business history, management, and social entrepreneurship. A number of our faculty come from practice as venture capitalists and start-up founders. We focus our research on the identification and pursuit of entrepreneurial opportunities; domestic and international funding of entrepreneurial endeavors; innovation, particularly technological innovation in international ventures; the environments in which entrepreneurs make decisions; and social entrepreneurship. As our research contributes new insights, we are advancing the world’s understanding of complex entrepreneurial issues and helping to increase the entrepreneurial success of our students and practitioners worldwide.

The Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship and the Social Enterprise Initiative encourage innovation to address the large-scale issues that beset society.

Recent Publications

A new aiera for equity research.

• Faculty Research

Immigrant Entrepreneurship: New Estimates and a Research Agenda

• Working Paper |

Business Experiments as Persuasion

Angel city football club: scoring a new model.

• March 2024 (Revised April 2024) |

Biomanufacturing Decentralization by Stämm

• March 2024 |

The CHIPS Program Office

From “big” ideas to sustainable impact at icl group (a), appropriate entrepreneurship the rise of china and the developing world, taffi: entrepreneurship in saudi arabia.

• February 2024 |

Korea Venture Investment Corporation

Seminars & conferences.

• 15 May 2024

HBS Working Knowlege

• 09 Apr 2024

Sustaining a Legacy of Giving in Turkey

• 22 Mar 2024

Open Source Software: The $9 Trillion Resource Companies Take for Granted

• 12 Mar 2024

How to Bring Good Ideas to Life: The Paul English Story

Harvard business publishing, how to negotiate with vcs.

• March 2024 (Revised April 2024)

Harvard Business Review Family Business Handbook: How to Build and Sustain a Successful, Enduring Enterprise

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Entrepreneurship: A Working Definition

• Tom Eisenmann

Being clear on what it means is not just an academic exercise.

What is entrepreneurship? You probably think that the answer is obvious, and that only an academic would bother to ask this question. As a professor, I suppose I am guilty of mincing words. But like the terms “strategy” and “business model,” the word “entrepreneurship” is elastic. For some, it refers to venture capital-backed startups and their kin; for others, to any small business. For some, “corporate entrepreneurship” is a rallying cry; for others, an oxymoron.

• Tom Eisenmann is the Howard H. Stevenson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, the Peter O. Crisp Faculty Chair of the Harvard Innovation Labs, and the author of Why Startups Fail: A New Roadmap for Entrepreneurial Success (Currency, 2021).

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Research in Entrepreneurship

Featured research articles on entrepreneurship

Toby Stuart on innovation at work: social networks and corporate strategy

Ulrike Malmendier on the effect of entrepreneurial peers on becoming an entrepreneur

Ross Levine on the characteristics of entrepreneurs

John Morgan on the drivers of entrepreneurship

Faculty Director of the Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program

Professor Toby Stuart

The entrepreneurship research program at Berkeley-Haas and the Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program is led by Professor Toby Stuart, who also serves as the Leo Helzel Chair in Entrepreneurship and Innovation, as well as the Faculty Director of the Berkeley-Haas Entrepreneurship Program. Previously, he was a Charles Edward Wilson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and an Arthur J. Samberg Professor of Leadership and Strategy at Columbia Business School.

Stuart’s research focuses on social networks, venture capital networks, and the role of networks in the creation of new firms. He is the recipient of the 2007 Kauffman Prize Medal for Distinguished Research in Entrepreneurship, granted every other year to recognize an individual’s contributions to entrepreneurship research. Stuart also received the Administrative Science Quarterly’s Scholarly Contribution (best paper) award.

Stuart says one of his goals is to develop the curriculum’s aim to teach students to think like entrepreneurs regardless of their fields. “Even if they don’t plan to launch a startup company, students can learn how to use innovation to strengthen organizations in any field,” says Stuart.

In 1995, Prof. Stuart earned his Ph.D. from Stanford Graduate School of Business. He received his A.B., summa cum laude, in economics from Carleton College in 1989.

Read an interview about Professor Stuart’s work at Berkeley-Haas:

//haas.berkeley.edu/groups/pubs/berkeleyhaas/winter2013/building-startup-ecosystem-toby-stuart.html

Read about the Silicon Valley Immersive experience for the MBA for Executives Class:

//newsroom.haas.berkeley.edu/article/inaugural-berkeley-mba-executives-class-dive-silicon-valley-ecosystem

Selected Papers and Publications

• “Board interlocks and the propensity to be targeted in PE-backed take privates” (with Soojin Yim). Journal of Financial Economics, 2010.
• “The impact of academic patenting on the rate and direction of (public) research output” (with Pierre Azoulay and Waverly Ding). Journal of Industrial Economics, 2009.
• “The evolution of venture capital investment networks” (with Olav Sorenson). Administrative Science Quarterly, 2008.
• “Brokerage in a Vertical Alliance Network” (with Salih Ozdemir and Waverly Ding). Research Policy, 2007.
• “Network effects in the governance of strategic alliances” (with David Robinson). Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, 2007.

Other Honors and Awards

• Elected to Sociological Research Association, 2009 • University of Southern California’s Grief Award for Research Impact for paper in Entrepreneurship, 2008 • Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Prize Medal for Distinguished Research in Entrepreneurship, 2006 • Administrative Science Quarterly’s Award for Scholarly Contribution, 2006 • Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence, Columbia Business School, 2004 • NSF Research Grant, 2003 • Voted “outstanding faculty member” by MBA students in Business Week’s Guide to the Best Business Schools, 2001 • Research grants from the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, 2001, 2000, 1999, 1998 • FMC Scholar, Graduate School of Business, University of Chicago, 1997 • State Farm Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship, 1994 • Doctoral Program Merit Scholarship, Stanford University, 1992 • Awarded stipend to participate in Stanford Seminar on Social Theory, 1992 • National Doctoral Fellowship, AACSB, 1991 • Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa, Carleton College, 1989 • Unanimous distinction on senior thesis, Carleton College, 1989 • A.M. Harrison Prize awarded to outstanding economics major, Carleton College, 1989

Toby Stuart

Toby Stuart, with Adam Kleinbaum, “ Inside the Black Box of Corporate Staff: Social Networks and the implementation of Corporate Strategy “ , Strategic Management Journal , 2014

Using email analysis, Toby Stuart and coauthors examine empirically the impact of corporate staff in implementing corporate strategy in multidivisional firms. They finds sharp cross-sectional differences in communication patterns: corporate staff have larger, more integrative networks, with larger structural holes. However, much of the difference is due to a sorting process rather than being caused by employment in the corporate staff. Further, once people receive the corporate imprimatur, they retain aspects of it even when they move back to the line organization. The results imply that the emphasis on structure as a mean to achieve coordination undervalues a selection process in which individuals with broad networks match to coordination-focused jobs in the corporate staff. This paper challenges the conventional wisdom that the primary means to implement a coordination-based corporate strategy is through the formal structure of the corporate center alone. Ulrike Malmendier on the effect of entrepreneurial peers on becoming an entrepreneur

Ulrike Malmendier

Ulrike Malmendier and Josh Lerner, “ With a Little Help from my Random Friends: Success and Failure in post Business School Entrepreneurship “. Review of Financial Studies , 2013.

Ulrike Malmendier and her coauthors made the startling discovery that close acquaintance with entrepreneurs does not motivate people to become entrepreneurs themselves. Studying the records of 6,000 Harvard Business School students who are randomly assigned to class sections, they show that a higher share of entrepreneurial peers reduces, rather than increases, entrepreneurship after graduation. The decrease is driven by a decrease in unsuccessful entrepreneurial ventures, while the effect on successful ventures is significantly more positive. The results are consistent with peer learning, where the close ties between students in a section lead to an enhanced understanding of the merits of proposed business ideas. Ross Levine on the characteristics of entrepreneurs

Ross Levine

Ross Levine and Yona Rubinstein “ Smart and Illicit: Who Becomes an Entrepreneur and Does it Pay?” Working Paper, 2014

In the first study to disaggregate the self-employed into incorporated and unincorporated, Levine and his co-author are able to examine the characteristics of entrepreneurs. They find that the incorporated self-employed (entrepreneurs) have a distinct combination of cognitive, noncognitive, and family traits. Besides tending to be white, male, and come from higher-income families with better-educated mothers, the incorporated–as teenagers–typically scored higher on learning aptitude tests, had greater self-esteem, and engaged in more aggressive, illicit, risk-taking activities. The combination of smart and illicit tendencies as a youth accounts for both entry into entrepreneurship and the comparative earnings of entrepreneurs. In contrast to a large literature, they also find that entrepreneurs earn much more per hour than their salaried counterparts. John Morgan on the drivers of entrepreneurship

John Morgan

John Morgan and Dana Sisak “ Entrepreneurship and Loss Aversion in a Winner-Take All Society ”. Working Paper 2014.

John Morgan and co-author investigate what motivates entrepreneurs to give up the safety of employment for the hazards of entrepreneurship. They describe entrepreneurs as those who work at running corner stores, beauty salons, real estate brokerages, and ethnic restaurants, up to well-known large success stories such as Facebook. They note that most ventures stay small, but some make it big. Their model explains this pattern through the variation in the outside—employment wage—option. In their model all individuals have the same characteristics, including being loss-averse: thus, a rise in employment wages increases entrepreneurial investment and effort, and also raises returns.

• Conferences

A Systems View Across Time and Space

• Open access
• Published: 03 March 2021

Factors affecting women entrepreneurs’ success: a study of small- and medium-sized enterprises in emerging market of Pakistan

• Rizwan Ullah Khan   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9633-3189 1 ,
• Yashar Salamzadeh 1 ,
• Syed Zulfiqar Ali Shah 2 &
• Mazhar Hussain 2  

Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship volume  10 , Article number:  11 ( 2021 ) Cite this article

66k Accesses

50 Citations

Metrics details

In the present era, women are recognized as successful entrepreneurs through their strong desire, qualities, and capabilities for robust economic development. Due to such an important contribution of women in economic development, we propose to investigate the factors which affect women entrepreneur’s success in Pakistan. Data were collected through structured questionnaires from 181 registered SMEs operating in Pakistan. A conceptual model is developed, while SPSS and AMOS software’s are used for analysis. The results indicate that the internal factors including the need for achievements, risk-taking, and self-confidence and external factors including economic factors and socio-cultural factors have a positive and significant influence on the success of women-owned enterprises. This research recommends Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA), policymakers, and practitioners to encourage women entrepreneurs to run their businesses for the long term by providing a variety of incentives and supports related to those internal and external factors. Numerous studies have been conducted to test the different factors’ effects on women’s entrepreneurial success, but our study investigated some psychological, cultural, and religious factors that are still almost untouched especially in Pakistan. The current study also contributes to the existing literature through empirical shreds of evidence.

Introduction

Women’s entrepreneurship is a growing global phenomenon, attracting considerable research attention during the last few decades (Henry, Foss, & Ahl, 2016 ). Not only does it contribute to economies in terms of job creation and economic growth (Kelley, Bosma, & Amoros, 2010 ), it is also recognized as a source of increasing entrepreneurial diversity in a range of economic contexts (Verheul et al., 2006 ); as such, it offers a valuable focus for concerted scholarly research. However, despite the significant contribution of women entrepreneurship in Pakistani context, still, it faces numerous barriers and challenges, which can hinder them from entrepreneur’s success (Torres-Ortega, Errico, & Rong, 2015 ). On the other hand, women entrepreneurs have been ignored to be supported on starting their venture in many emerging economies (Roomi & Parrott, 2008a , 2008b ). Unfortunately, less attention has been given to women entrepreneurs in emerging economies despite their sustainable contributions toward GDP (Kelley et al., 2010 ) and poverty alleviation (Khan, 2014 ). Due to the complex interaction of socio-cultural factors, religious, and family structures (Roomi, 2013 ). The role of women in Pakistan’s traditional and masculine society has been the subject of debate. Women face discrimination and gender inequalities owing to gender-biased power relations based on inequality and prejudice (Roomi, Rehman, & Henry, 2018 ). This research is an attempt to discover factors influencing the performance of women entrepreneurs in this context.

Therefore, past studies scrutinized that family support, self-confidence and motivation (Azmi, 2017 ), risk-taking and motivation (Abd Rani & Hashim, 2017 ), and lack of business skills (Muhammad, McElwee, & Dana, 2017 ) plays a very important role in women employee performance. While, government policies, access to finance, culture, and regulation (Muhammad et al., 2017 ) significantly affect women-run enterprises’ success. As (Modarresi, Arasti, Talebi, & Farasatkhah, 2016 ) finding suggest that employee’s behaviors, culture, economic, and environmental factors significantly affect firm performance. Therefore, the current study examines internal and external factors effect on women firm performance because developing countries have different culture, religious, and cultural activities, which are significantly different from other religions (Khan, 2014 ); in addition, there is huge uncertainty in economic and government sectors which is a big challenge for women investors during investment decision (Plotnikov, Salamzadeh, Demiryurek, Kawamorita, & Urasova, 2019 ). Therefore, checking these internal and external factors are very crucial in women’s employee context because sometimes due to government policies or environmental factors, uncertainty can disturb employee behaviors such as motivation, confidence level which negatively affect women’s firm performance. While, definitely several past studies tested these factors in developed countries (Hasan & Almubarak, 2016 ; Abd Rani & Hashim, 2017 ) where women entrepreneurs have different supportive rules and regulations for launching their own business and running it. Thereby, Modarresi et al. ( 2016 ), demonstrates that both factors can significantly affect women entrepreneurial success in developing economies, underpinning through upper echelons theory (Fig. 1 ).

Women entrepreneur’s challenges. Source by Researcher

In addition, our study suggests several theoretical contributions. In women’s success contexts, many studies have been conducted in few decades but none of them has used upper echelons theory or has not covered all these internal and external factors in emerging economies (Lai, Lin, & Chen, 2017 ). Upper echelons theory was recognized by Hambrick & Mason, 1984 , which demonstrates that the influence of top management behavior personalities affect organizational performance. Here, the current study is conducted on emerging economies while previous studies tested in mixed economies of overall employee performance (Hasan & Almubarak, 2016 ; Plotnikov et al., 2019 ; Abd Rani & Hashim, 2017 ). Nevertheless, there is no single study to check women’s behaviors, attitudes, economic, and environmental factors effect on firm performance in an emerging economy.

Theoretical background

The main objective of the current study is to determine the effect of the different factors on women’s entrepreneurial success, underpinning through upper echelons theory. It is recognized by Hambrick & Mason, 1984 , which explains that the top employee behavior significantly affects organizational performance. In this study, women entrepreneur’s behaviors (self-confidence, risk-taking, and motivation) and external factors significantly affect firm performance. The theory explains that those top managers’ values, behavior, and external factors impact business success. Furthermore, Hambrick ( 2007 ) split the upper echelons theory into two parts. The first part explains the external factors (political, environmental, and financial), which influence the entrepreneurial success of the firm.

While the second part explains internal factors such as perceptions and experiences’ impact on top managers of the businesses. Past literature reveals that managers’ traits affect the women-owned business success (Herrmann & Nadkarni, 2014 ; Heyden, Fourné, Koene, Werkman, & Ansari, 2017 ). Therefore, we argue that these internal (need for achievement, risk-taking, and self-confidence) and external (economic and socio-cultural) factors are more likely to construct a positive link with business success, according to the upper echelon’s theory.

Several research studies have concluded that managers’ characteristics influence organizations’ strategic behaviors (Colbert et al., 2014 ; Herrmann & Nadkarni, 2014 ; Heyden et al., 2017 ). Thus, it is not surprising that managers with different personalities will prefer different strategic behaviors that will ultimately influence organizational outcomes. There is little doubt that change and innovation in organizations can be brought about by top managers; rather than bottom-line managers (Heyden et al., 2017 ). Nonetheless, theory development about top management psychological attributes and organization innovation is scarce (Tuncdogan et al., 2017 ). Hence, research in respect of the upper echelon’s theory is necessary for the current era.

The empirical study focuses on different internal and external factors, which have an impact on women's entrepreneurial success. Hence, define these internal and external factors in their literature as presented in Table 1 .

Women entrepreneurs in Pakistan

The status of women in Pakistan is not homogenous because of the interconnection of sexual orientation with different types of exclusion in society. Due to cultural norms, religious prescriptions, and practices identified for women, their status and role differ and sometimes is conflicting. These practices enormously restrict the accessibility of opportunities to women all through Pakistan.

Therefore, according to a global entrepreneurship monitor (GEM) (Qureshi, Kratzer & Mian 2011 ), Pakistan registered in “factors-driven” countries with an early stage total entrepreneurial activity (TEA) rate of 9.07%, at the bottom of the whole group. The early-stage TEA rate for women is 1.73, compared to 15.94 for men. The TEA rate for women is one of the lowest ones among all participating countries in the global entrepreneurship monitor survey (Qureshi, Kratzer & Mian 2011 ). However, besides all these challenges, the government of Pakistan has started some initiatives for female entrepreneurs and established a women business development center (WBDCs) Footnote 1 in 2012 under the SMEDA, to increase the awareness of women entrepreneurs regarding business start-ups. In addition, the government of Pakistan has started the first women bank Ltd. to help women to get access to loans easier Footnote 2 . During 2012, after great women community struggles, they launched Women Business Development Centers (WBDCs) in all big cities of Pakistan Footnote 3 .

In this cultural context, women’s participation in business activities creates a big problem with balancing the job and family (Rehman & Azam Roomi, 2012 ). Moreover, the question becomes more serious when we talk about Pakistan, where women roles, regulations, religious, and culture are different from other nations because Pakistan is a Muslim country, where culture and religion has a vital impact on women profile (Khan, 2014 ). Hence, the previous studies contribute that women are facing many challenges because of Islamic religious rules and cultural traditions. Similarly, a study conducted in the Iran context, which postulates that women in Islamic developing countries are facing cultural limitations and gender-related inequalities (Modarresi et al., 2016 ). In addition, Rehman and Azam Roomi ( 2012 ) showed that gender bias, lack of time, and family-related issues have a significant impact on women’s business success. Beside all these cultural and religious barriers in Pakistan, there are other problems related to gender as well; for example, women have not full access to the opportunities that men have easy access to (Roomi & Parrott, 2008a , 2008b ).

Azam Roomi and Harrison ( 2010 ) posit in their literature that;

Women in Islamic countries have barrios to become entrepreneurs. These barriers can be reduced by women having entrepreneurial competencies

Therefore, Modarresi et al. ( 2016 ) suggested that women who own businesses are encouraged through intrinsic motivation such as the need for achievement, self-confidence, and socio-cultural activities. While some previous studies also explain that women-owned businesses roles and regulation are significantly different from mixed-gender owned (Rey-Martí, Porcar, & Mas-Tur, 2015 ). Therefore, female entrepreneurs usually do not invest in a company as much as men, due to less self-confidence level and risk aversion.

Hypotheses development

Need for achievement and women entrepreneurs’ success.

Achievement is a hidden motivation force developed through the support of human main perception (McClelland, Atkinson, Clark, & Lowell, 1976 ). It is defined as the desire for success or achievement to excellence (Balogun, Balogun, & Onyencho, 2017 ) while Jayeoba, Sholesi, and Lawal ( 2013 ) defined it as a source of motivation for long-term entrepreneur’s success and an indication for improvement of the desire to get a great achievement in his life or business. Similarly, the willingness to achieve has characteristics such as difficult tasks, responsibility, and focus on success (Rauch & Frese, 2007 ). McClelland’s motivation theory (McClelland, 1988 ) suggested that human being has three sorts of achievement motivation needs, need for achievement, need for power, and need for affiliation. However, the need for achievement is essential for top managers to achieve their targets (Dewi, Bundu, & Tahmir, 2016 ).

Successful entrepreneurs have characteristics such as exploiting opportunities and quick investment decision-making compared to the high market uncertainty (Viinikainen et al., 2017 ). Nurwahida ( 2007 ) claimed that most successful women entrepreneurs have the characteristics of motivation and risk-taking while achievement is also one of the crucial attributes mentioned by Rasheed ( 2001 ). Past studies have investigated that those top women entrepreneurs who have high motivation, entrepreneurial intention, and managerial skills can improve their business success easier (Al Mamun & Ekpe, 2016 ). Moreover, the motivation for achieving objective behavior is supportive for top managers (Rasheed, 2001 ). Dolan, Peasgood, and White ( 2008 ) specified that motivation behavior is not just supporting the managers but at the same time, it plays a vital role as the backbone for achieving their targets.

There is some evidence that women entrepreneurs have a stronger impact on business success, especially in firms that represent relatively fixed personality traits such as motivation (Ehman et al., 2017 ). While Chuluunbaatar, Ottavia, and Kung ( 2011 ) explained that entrepreneurial orientation in the start-up stage affects social capital and personal characteristics, they also have revealed that these own characteristics include motivation and ability of risk-taking. These personal factors also have a positive impact on SMEs (Mahadalle & Kaplan, 2017 ; Ehman et al., 2017 ; Chuluunbaatar et al., 2011 ). Based on the past literature, we propose that women entrepreneurs’ success, who have high motivation and need for achievement, can have a significant and positive impact on their business success.

H1a: The need for achievement has a significant positive effect on women entrepreneurs’ success

Risk-taking and women entrepreneurs’ success

From an entrepreneur’s success story (Zhang & Cain, 2017 ), not everyone gets inspired but specifically, those who wish to start their own business, because they want to accept a higher level of risk (Bird, 1988 ; Chen, Greene, & Crick, 1998 ). Therefore, previous literature postulated that the risk-taking tendency among entrepreneurs is unfailing (MacCrimmon & Wehrung, 1990 ). Thereby, the constancy of this idea has confronted from time to time; there are some cross-debates, which believe that entrepreneurs can pose risk-taking capabilities at the same time (Palich & Bagby, 1995 ). Academic literature postulated that women CEOs in an uncertain situation could take the risk, which significantly affects firm performance and success (Wiklund & Shepherd 2005 ) because entrepreneurs highly inclined to take risks might receive compensation through higher expected profits (Danso, Adomako, Damoah, & Uddin, 2016 ).

Women entrepreneurship and risk are two concepts that are viewed as devoted to entrepreneurship literature. For example, women entrepreneurship mostly correlated with risk exposure, separating women entrepreneurship from employees and managers (Begley & Boyd, 1987 ). For this reason, the way a woman deals with risk is likely to influence the firm’s performance (Pattillo & Söderbom, 2000 ). Thereby, women entrepreneurs are encouraged to take investment in the turbulent market (Johnell et al., 1995 ), because female entrepreneurs have the validity to make decisions in the turbulence market (Gedajlovic, Lubatkin, & Schulze, 2004 ).

Given that, female CEOs are interested in participating in risky activities, while Zalata, Ntim, Aboud, and Gyapong ( 2019 ) scrutinized that women are more risk-taker, which significantly impact firm performance and success, especially in emerging economies (Zalata et al., 2019 ). As such, the level of risk-taking by the women entrepreneur is expected to have a positive impact on performance (Wang & Poutziouris, 2010 ; Zalata et al., 2019 ; Zhao, Seibert, & Lumpkin, 2010 ). Therefore, we postulate from previous literature that women entrepreneurs are more risk-taker oriented during the decision-making process; it, in turn, has some impacts on firm performance and business success.

H1b: Risk-taking has a significant and positive effect on women entrepreneurs’ success.

Self-confidence and women entrepreneurs’ success

Confidence in entrepreneurship literature is defined as the capability of entrepreneurial perception, which helps entrepreneurs to pursue their target with a strong belief on their way (Twibell et al., 2008 ). Self-confidence plays a critical role in entrepreneurship literature and it is believed that it helps entrepreneurs in their entrepreneurial activities (Oney & Oksuzoglu-Guven, 2015 ). While Hassan and Yusof ( 2015 ) noted that the self-confidence level of entrepreneurs is their basic thoughts on behalf of their businesses and their interest to face any unexpected failure in the future. Rieger ( 2012 ) suggested that entrepreneurs struggle for their objectives with high self-confidence. Abd Rani and Hashim ( 2017 ) showed that the women entrepreneurs, who have a high self-confidence level, could quickly gain a competitive advantage in emerging markets while facing different barriers that need to set an objective on or plan a better policy to reach business goals (Moloi & Nkhahle-Rapita, 2014 ). Similarly, researchers stated that women entrepreneurs, which have a high level of motivation, low anxiety level, and high self-confidence, could better gain a competitive advantage in turbulent markets (Balogun et al., 2017 ).

On the other hand, entrepreneurial intention is also affected by the self-confidence level and without these factors, it will be impossible to compete in the turbulent markets (Mehtap, Pellegrini, Caputo, & Welsh, 2017 ). Hence, past literature suggested that women naturally tend to show less intention toward entrepreneurial activities as compared to men, while their decision-making style is also affected by low self-confidence level (Díaz-García & Jiménez-Moreno, 2010 ). Besides all these issues as mentioned by Al-Dajani and Marlow ( 2010 ) due to cultural and religious boundaries in Islamic countries, women mostly get permission from their husband, brother, or father for starting up a new venture; these all can increase or decrease their self-confidence level.

Furthermore, Dabic, Daim, Bayraktaroglu, Novak, and Basic ( 2012 ) conducted a study comparing male and female entrepreneurs’ confidence level and found that male entrepreneurs have higher confidence compare to females. Hence, the results from previous literature suggested that women’s entrepreneurial intention and confidence positively influence their business success (Balogun et al., 2017 ; Mondal, Ghosh, & Das, 2013 ). Based on the above literature, the below hypothesis is developed:

H1c: Self-confidence has a significant and positive impact on women entrepreneurs’ success .

Economic factors and women entrepreneurs’ success

Economic factors refer to the arrangement of necessary data identified with internal company financing and external financial situation, which influences business success (Wube, 2010 ). Even though there is an agreement that women can scarcely get credit for their entrepreneurial ventures in many developing countries like Pakistan, the rate of women’s commitment to the economy in the private sector is strikingly contrasted with their male counterparts. In a large number of developing countries, women need to find solutions and gain easy access to finance for their startup businesses. While as mentioned by Afza and Amir Rashid ( 2009 ), women entrepreneurs are significantly affected by external factors such as political, financial, and social factors, almost in any sector. Furthermore, Saleem ( 2017 ) postulated that women entrepreneurs’ success was significantly affected by external factors such as the environment, government policies, and political issues in emerging economies.

In addition, political, economic, and environmental factors are an external factor and play a pivotal role in firms’ success. In women context, SMEs which have a lack of finance for developmental and other innovative strategies cannot gain and sustain a competitive advantage and manage the political, economic, and social issues themselves (Abdallah & Alnamri, 2015 ; Radzi, Nor, & Ali, 2017 ). Lindvert, Patel, and Wincent ( 2017 ) found that fluctuation in political and economic systems affects women entrepreneurs’ success. Hence, the external factors (e.g., financial and political factors) significantly increase or decrease business performance and success (Abdallah & Alnamri, 2015 ; Lindvert et al., 2017 ; Radzi et al., 2017 ; Saleem, 2017 ). Based on the above literature, we propose below hypothesis:

H1d. Economic factors have a significant and positive effect on women entrepreneurs’ success.

Socio-cultural factors and women entrepreneurs’ success

Socio-cultural factors include a blend of social and cultural factors that affect women entrepreneurs’ success. In Islamic countries, social and cultural norms on the one hand and family issues, on the other hand, are the most serious issues for women entrepreneurs (Poggesi, Mari, & De Vita, 2016 ). Hence, Roomi et al. ( 2018 ) suggest that women’s entrepreneurial career choices both revolve around and are shaped by a complex interplay of socio-cultural factors. In addition, socio-cultural factors determine the level of entrepreneurial activity in a specific time and place (Veciana, 1999 ). While Arasti, Zandi, and Talebi ( 2012 ) explained that social relationships have a crucial impact on women business’s performance and success. It empowers the business visionary to distinguish opportunities and resources better. Social networks affect entrepreneurs’ business start-up initiatives as it shows them a model for progress and gains support (Mehtap et al., 2017 ). Even the social bonds and networks with close relatives and life partner is a critical issue for women entrepreneurs’ success (Omwenga, Mukulu, & Kanali, 2013 ). Balakrishnan and Low ( 2016 ) postulated that social-cultural factors (religious, family, etc.) significantly affect women entrepreneurs’ decision-making and success in developing economies. Based on the above-mentioned literature, we propose this hypothesis (Fig. 2 ):

Conceptual framework

H1e. Socio-cultural factors has a significant and positive effect on women entrepreneurs’ success.

Methodology

Procedure and participants.

Data is collected from the SMEs sector operating in the emerging market of Pakistan (Islamabad, Lahore, and Rawalpindi). Only registered SMEs are targeted. The list of registered SMEs is taken from the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce, Lahore chamber of commerce, and Rawalpindi chamber of commerce, verified by Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA), which is a governmental institute under the Ministry of industries and production, established in October 1998. The target population are women SMEs, definition in Pakistani context, those small enterprises which have more than 10 and less 250 employees SMEDA, 2018; Khan, Salamzadeh, Kawamorita, & Rethi, 2020 ), managed and controlled by women. We collected data from 3 April 2020 to 15 July 2020 through structured questionnaires from women entrepreneurs. There is a total of 323 women-owned small enterprises registered in these three big cities run and managed by women directors. For selection of sample, we used (Krejcie and Morgan, 1970 ) sample calculation table because we have total firm detail taken from SMEDA. For choosing the sample, we used simple random sampling technique because sampling random sampling techniques is widely used techniques in small enterprises (Healey, 2014 ). In random sampling techniques, every sample or enterprise has an equal chance (Kumar, 2008 ). For selection the total number of sample, Krejcie and Morgan, table, we distributed 323 questionnaires through email and Google doc. Approach to women entrepreneurs and finally, because of Covid-19, we cannot personally visit the enterprises due to governmental restriction of SOPs. Hence, after distribution, we received 197 questionnaires. From this number of questionnaires, 16 questionnaires had some missing values and therefore excluded from our final samples. Hence, a total of 79 responses from Rawalpindi, 54 from Islamabad, and 48 from Lahore are used in this research.

Measurement instrument

In the current study, we adapted the scales of main constructs from the previous literature and used confirmatory factor analysis for checking the reliability and validity of the main constructs.

Women entrepreneurs’ success

The women entrepreneurs’ success is dependent variable and it is measured through the nine-item questionnaire adapted from previous literature used by Maehr and Sjogren ( 1971 ) by crown back alpha more than 0.70.

Self-confidence

The self-confidence is an independent main construct that refers to the employee’s motivation and encourage toward the achievement. Self-confidence is measured through a six-item questionnaire adapted from the previous studies developed by Jones, Swain, and Cale ( 1991 ) with more than 0.70 crown back alpha.

• Need for achievement

Next, need for achievement is an independent main construct, which it refers to the employee’s struggling for achieve the main objective. In the current study, need for achievement measured through adapted previous studies using a five-item questionnaire developed by (Zeffane, 2013 ) having crown back alpha more than 0.70.

• Risk taking

Furthermore, risk-taking is a third independent main variable; it refers to the employee’s bold decision for gaining the external opportunity. In the current study, risk-taking is measured through 4 items adapted questionnaires from previous studies developed by Steensma and Corley ( 2001 ) having more than 0.70 crown back alpha.

• Economic factors

The fourth one is an economic factor, and in the current model, it plays a role as independent main construct. The economic factors refer to the different economical aspects that effect on the firm and economic stability. It is measured through adapted questionnaires from previous literature using a four-item developed by Wube ( 2010 ) having crown back alpha more than 0.70.

• Socio-cultural factors

The fifth one is a socio-cultural factor, and in the current model, it plays a role as independent main construct. The socio-cultural factor refers to the different external cultural which is related to an employee’s traits effect on firm’s and economics’ instability. It is measured through adapted questionnaires from previous literature using a four-item developed by Wube ( 2010 ) having crown back alpha more than 0.70.

Control variables

For the purpose to reduce spurious insights of this study, we used work status and women education level as control variables to check different factors effect on women’s entrepreneurial success. Because Huarng, Mas-Tur, and Yu’s ( 2012 ) finding postulate that women entrepreneurs status plays a significant role in firm performance while on the other side, educated women take good investment decisions that impact firm performance (Robinson, Blockson, & Robinson, 2007 ). Therefore, we suppose these two variables to control the firm performance.

Common bias method

Subsequently, collecting data through a single source (questionnaire), the common bias method (CBM) issue might happen (Podsakoff & Organ, 1986 ). Women cannot easily take decision, so that is why their every strategic decision are full of biases. Therefore, for checking CBM, we applied Harman’s one-factor using factor analysis by extraction method of “principal component analysis” in SPSS. Harman’s one-factor test results show that there are six factors, which have Eigenvalues more than 1, while their first factor is explaining 32.45% of the total variance. It indicates that there is no such a kind of common bias method problem in the data, as the first factor explains a great part of the total variance (Hair, Anderson, Babin, & Black, 2010 ; Podsakoff & Organ, 1986 ).

Measurement model results

The current study uses AMOS for measurement model, validity, reliability, normality, and multi-collinearity for fruitful insights. Table 2 explains that data normality is assessed through the skewness and kurtosis; the results are in the acceptance rage ± 2, which explains that observed variables of this study are within the normal range (George & Mallery 2010 ; Khan & Ghufran, 2018 ). In addition, in the current study, we evaluate the Mardia’s coefficient using wed basd software “ https://webpower.psychstat.org/models/kurtosis” suggested by Cain, Zhang, and Yuan ( 2017 ) because we collected the data from women top managers, so it needs to check the deep normality. Hence, the results show that skewness and kurtosis values are 1369.008 and 3080.546 respectively with p value < 0.05, which is larger than Mardia’s coefficient (Mardia, 1970 ) (see Table 4 for more detail). Hence, on the base of Mardia’s results, we reject the null hypotheses because the data are not normally distributed. While, the current study shows that there is no multicollinearity problem in the model because the latent variables have a variance inflation factor (VIF) less than 3 (Hair et al., 2010 ) and tolerance value is greater than 0.10. Hence, it indicates that there is no multi-collinearity problem in the model as shown in Table 3 (Hair et al., 2010 ).

A confirmatory factor analysis contended through AMOS to check the model fitness, reliability, and validity as shown in Fig. 3 . All the items factor loading above the threshold level of 0.70 and significantly loaded ( p < 0.01) of all their respective items.

Confirmatory factor analysis

The convergent validity is identified by taking a square of all items errors in factor loading on a construct and then is divided to the sum of all factor loadings on the average number of items. The results in Table 5 explain that all constructs have convergent validity of more than 0.50 (Hair et al., 2010 ; Khan, 2019 ). Discriminant validity is calculated by taking the square root of AVE and results are shown in Table 4 . The discriminant validity results interpret that each value of the discriminant validity value is more than 0.70, which shows that all items are unique as required (Hair et al., 2010 ). In addition, composite reliability indicates the loaded internal stability of each construct. In Table 5 , the results are shown and it is clear that all constructs have reliability of more than 0.70, which is the accepted range as recommended by Nunnally and Bernstein ( 1994 ).

The first test of model fitness results was not good; therefore, we checked the model modification indices (MI) and the results indicate that there are some redundancy items in our model. Therefore, we removed problematic items and the second round of results shows a good model fit.

Thus, the model fit criteria achieved are shown in Table 6 . However, Barclay, Higgins, and Thompson ( 1995 ) suggested that we need to ensure the validity and reliability of the constructs before testing hypotheses in structural equation modeling. Table 6 shows a good model fit result according to confirmatory factor analysis (CFA).

Correlation

In the current study, we used Pearson correlation by SPSS software for evaluating the correlations. The results indicate that there is a significant positive relationship between self-confidence and women entrepreneurs’ success ( r = 0.39, p < 0.05). Furthermore, we found that the need for achievement has a significant positive correlation with women entrepreneurs’ success ( r = .30, p < .001) and similarly risk-taking also has a significant positive correlation with women entrepreneurs’ success ( r = 0.01, p < 0.43). While economic factors have a significant positive correlation with women entrepreneurs’ success ( r = 0.522, p < 0.001) and finally socio-cultural factors have a significant positive correlation with women entrepreneurs’ success ( r = 0 .41, p < 0.05) (Table 7 ).

Table 8 represents the multiple regression model, as the current model has no depending factors, which affects the model therefore the current relationship just reveals between predictor and response variables. Thereby, our results explain that the need for achievement has a positive and significant impact on the women entrepreneurs’ success (β = 0.25, p value > 0.05); it suggests that women managers having a strong motivation and intention to achieve his target in the Pakistani context. Therefore, it explains that women entrepreneurs’ success enhances 25% if there is a 1% increase in women entrepreneurs’ motivation to get their targets.

Moreover, our result reveals that risk-taking has a significant and positive impact on women entrepreneurs’ success (β = 0.29, p value > 0.00). It shows that if women entrepreneurs can take decisions (for example, financial or investment decisions) wisely having all the barriers in their minds, it can push their business toward success in the long term. Therefore, it means that for each 1% increase in taking a risky decision, a 29% increase in their business success will be expected.

In addition, self-confidence has a positive and significant relationship with women entrepreneurs’ success (β = 0.64, p value > 0.05). It shows that the women entrepreneurs, who have a high self-confidence level, take any uncertainty issue very easily without feeling any depression, so it can help during firm performance and success for the long-term. It means that for each 1% increase in self-confidence level, there will be a 64% increase in women entrepreneurs’ success.

In external factors, our results explain that economic factor has also a significant and positive impact on women entrepreneurs’ success (β = 0.24, p value > 0.05). It explains that if there is no uncertainty such as political, environmental, or financial in a business environment, then firms can achieve their targets smoothly, so we found that women entrepreneurs are significantly affected by these factors, because each 1% fluctuation in external factors, its effects on women entrepreneurs’ success will be 24%.

Similarly, socio-cultural factors also have a significant impact on women entrepreneurs’ success (β = 0.34, p value > 0.05); it postulates that women entrepreneurs have many socio-cultural factors in their business environment; they cannot achieve their targets because these factors significantly contribute on their success. Hence, the underline study explains that each 1% interchange in these factors in their business environment will result in a 34% impact on their success.

As R 2 = 0.191 in our research model, it indicates that 19% of the total variance in women entrepreneurs’ success can be using these internal and external factors such as the need for achievement, self-confidence, risk taking, economic factors, and socio-cultural factors.

Discussion and conclusion

Results of the current study reveal that internal factors including self-confidence, risk taking, and need for achievement, and external factors including economic and socio-cultural factors have a positive and significant impact on women entrepreneurs’ success in Pakistan. So, our findings support the previous studies results in both developed and developing economies such as Azmi ( 2017 ), Abd Rani and Hashim ( 2017 ), and Muhammad et al. ( 2017 ) suggested that women entrepreneurs internal behavior self-confidence and motivational force enhance the competitive advantage; these capabilities help them to become a successful women entrepreneur. On the other hand, some other researchers (Hasan & Almubarak, 2016 ; Muhammad et al., 2017 ) suggested that external factors also influence women entrepreneurs’ success. While, our study is different from developed economies finding because they (Bastian, Sidani, & El Amine, 2018 ; Laudano, Zollo, Ciappei, & Zampi, 2018 ) suggested that these factors cannot significantly enhance women entrepreneurs’ success.

The current study concluded that the “need for achievement” factor has a positive and significant impact on women entrepreneurs’ success. So, our findings are consistent with previous studies (Chuluunbaatar et al., 2011 ; Mahadalle & Kaplan, 2017 ; Ehman et al., 2017 ) who suggested that women entrepreneurs who have a high level of motivation can succeed during the business. Hence, our finding demonstrates that those women entrepreneurs, who have a high degree of motivation for working or starting a new venture, can easily success in his job. While Bastian, Sidani, & El Amine ( 2018 ), who conducted a study in the Middle East, suggested that motivation for gaining his objective can play a pivotal role in business success. So, on the base of aligning our results with previous studies, our H 1 is supported.

Next, our results postulate that risk-taking has a positive and significant impact on women entrepreneurs’ success. Therefore, our finding favors past literature (Meroño-Cerdán, López-Nicolás, & Molina-Castillo, 2018 ) who demonstrated that feeling hesitation during decision-making can affect the firm performance. In addition, Panno, Donati, Milioni, Chiesi, and Primi ( 2018 ) suggest that new ventures have many taking risk behaviors as compare to old firms. Therefore, our findings are aligned with previous studies that women entrepreneurs who feel risk-aversion will affect their SME’s performance and success (González, Guzmán, Pombo, & Trujillo, 2013 ; Panno et al., 2018 ).

Self-confidence is very essential for top managers during decision-making for the long and short term. Therefore, our findings postulate that self-confidence has a positive and significant influence on women entrepreneurs’ success in emerging economies. Because our finding is familiar with previous studies conducted in developed economies (Balogun et al., 2017 ; Mondal et al., 2013 ), which suggest that top management with high confidence can easily compete in the market and get success. While Oney and Oksuzoglu-Guven’s ( 2015 ) finding demonstrates that bold manager can easily take investment decision as compared to having low confidence. Therefore, on the basis of these arguments, we suggest that confidant women entrepreneurs can easily get success. However, we differentiate our study, as the context of it is an Islamic economy, where rules and regulations are different for women to achieve success in their business. Therefore, our study suggests that women entrepreneurs who work in an Islamic context and still take self-confidential decisions are having a great impact on their SMEs’ performance and success.

In the underline study, we argue that internal factors have a positive and significant impact on women entrepreneurs’ success, while external factors also have a positive influence on women entrepreneurs’ success. Thereby, our findings are consistent with previous studies, which are conducted in developed economies (Radzi et al., 2017 ) who suggest that finance plays a vital role in SME’s success. While Lindvert et al. ( 2017 ) suggested that political interference is very important for networking with customers and suppliers. Therefore, on the basis of this past literature, we posit that external factors are significantly contributing to women entrepreneur’s success in emerging economies. In addition, our findings suggest that socio-cultural factors have a positive and significant impact on women entrepreneurs’ success. Therefore, our results favor past studies (Arasti et al., 2012 ; Poggesi et al., 2016 ) who demonstrate that social and cultural factors have a positive and significant impact on women entrepreneurs’ success. While Roomi et al. ( 2018 ) suggest that in an Islamic country, women entrepreneurs face a lot of cultural conflicts related his business because in Islamic cultural, women are following their roles and regulation. Therefore, we posit in the underline study that these factors significantly affect the women entrepreneur’s success.

Contribution of the study

Theoretical contribution.

The underline study contributes to the existing literature in the field of women entrepreneurial success, internal factors (motivation, risk-taking, and self-confidence), and external factors (economic and socio-cultural). The main objective of the underline study is to examine the internal and external factors, which influence women’s entrepreneurial success. Our study finding acknowledges that several researchers investigate women entrepreneurial performance through different factors, but the current study evaluates the effect of the internal and external factors on women small and medium-sized enterprises in developing economies because more than 70% of SMEs are operationalized in developing economies. Therefore, their culture, religion, and regulation are different from a developed country. Therefore, our current study underpins through the “upper echelons theory” Hambrick & Mason, 1984 ; it explains that the top manager’s behaviors and external factors impact on business performance. Because in our model, motivation, risk-taking, and confidence are internal entrepreneurial behaviors and economic and social factors are external factors, which enhance the business performance in Pakistani small-medium enterprises.

Practical implications

The current study not only provides the implications to manager and owners of SMEs but also gives guidelines to policymakers and particularly support the institution such as SMEDA. Our findings demonstrate that women entrepreneurs need motivation and confidence to start their business by arranging the seminar, workshop, women incentives, or women entrepreneurial university. Because our results suggest that if women have motivation and confidence, it can enhance entrepreneurial performance. Therefore, we recommend to government and policymaker to arrange a seminar or women entrepreneurial university, which helps the women entrepreneurs to create courage and start a business. In addition, according to Hussain, Mahmood, and Scott ( 2019 ), out of 97 small business in Pakistan, only 5% are women entrepreneurs; so, we suggest to policymakers and government to give the education about the business and incentive to starts his own business because SMEs have 40% contribution in Pakistani GDP.

Limitation and future direction

There is no study without limitation, and ours has some limitations as well. The main limitation is related to our sampling, which has been done in three large cities, but future researchers can expand it to a national level to reach more comprehensive results with some considerations on geological and cultural differences. So, we recommend for future researchers to relate the current work with different Islamic countries (comparative study). The current finding suggests to the future researcher that uses a mixed-method approach among women entrepreneurs in developed countries. It is also suggested to consider more variables in future researches to get a bigger image of this research idea. Finally, yet importantly, testing any moderator such as literacy or financial literacy, which increases or decreases the relationship between these factors and women entrepreneurs’ success, is also suggested.

Availability of data and materials

We collected the data from small medium and enterprises of various cities of Pakistan. Please note that we can also avail of the do-files upon request.

https://www.pakistanpressfoundation.org/women-business-development-centre-inaugurated/

http://www.fwbl.com.pk/assets-products/business-loans-for-women/

https://smeda.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=236&catid=8&Itemid=101

Abbreviations

Small- and medium-sized enterprises

Small Medium Enterprises Development Authority

Gross domestic products

Global entrepreneurship monitor

Women Business Development Center

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Khan, R.U., Salamzadeh, Y., Shah, S.Z.A. et al. Factors affecting women entrepreneurs’ success: a study of small- and medium-sized enterprises in emerging market of Pakistan. J Innov Entrep 10 , 11 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13731-021-00145-9

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Hi there: I'm Ruhul and this is Future Startup Weekly, a newsletter about entrepreneurship, expertise, and doing good work. You can read past issues here and subscribe here .

At FS, we are on a mission to help create a more entrepreneurial world, empowering people to seek and apply their agency. We are privileged to have you with us on this journey. Please feel free to send us your suggestions and feedback to improve our work. 

What's in store for today:

• The Art of Enterprise with Mohammad Oli Ahad 
• Founder Story: A collection of eight founder Interviews 
• Business Deep Dive on Arogga's lab testing launch
• Insight on driving results with an OKR champion
• Brand Story on Bdjobs SME recruitment solution 
• Updates from Future Startup 

The Art of Enterprise 

The Making of Intelligent Machines with Mohammad Oli Ahad

In this fascinating old entry from our archive, Founder and CEO of Intelligent Machines Limited Mohammad Oli Ahad talks about how Intelligent Machines came about, the power of artificial intelligence, and the rough edges of the entrepreneurship journey. 

Founder Story 

Eight founders on organization building, entrepreneurial challenges, and surviving and thriving

A collection of eight of our founder stories from last year. Gain fascinating insights into how organization building from scratch works, what are the major challenges founders face, how to build an excellent culture, and how to survive and thrive. 

Business Deep Dive  

Arogga's Launches Lab Testing, Healthcare Aggregation Play in Bangladesh

Grain insight into a broader trend where online pharmacies are using their customer relationships and logistics capabilities to push into adjacent healthcare verticals through the lens of Arogga’s recent foray into lab testing. 

Insight 

How to Drive Accountability and Results With an OKR Champion

Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) has become one of the popular frameworks across organizations. Learn how to successfully implement OKR in your organization using the idea of OKR champion. 

Brand Story 

Bdjobs Launches Recruitment Solution for SMEs, Aims to Become Job Platform for Entire Economy

For over two decades, Bdjobs has catered primarily to formal sector corporations, predominantly targeting the graduate job market. The company has now set its sights on the nation's vast informal micro, small, and medium enterprise sector with a new solution.

Future Startup Updates 

Future Research: We have formally launched our research arm: Future Research and Consulting. Our ambition is to help companies, investors, NGOs, and academic and government institutions in their critical work of building a better world. Learn more . 

Podcast appearance: This is super late but I was invited to the Bubble Ratio podcast to talk about our work at FS and Bangladesh’s startup ecosystem. You can watch it here . 

Whitepaper: Again late, we published a whitepaper on the state and future of agri-tech in Bangladesh in partnership with CES-ULAB. You can find it here . 

More from Future Startup 

The Art of Enterprise | Founder Stories | Business Deep Dive | Insight | Book Review 

Work With Us: Brand Partnership | Email Newsletter Sponsorship  

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Students Impress In 2024 UREP Project Presentations

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May 14, 2024

Pictured from left: Angily Ally, Ishaan Singh, Isha Kaur, Associate Professor Cecilia Dong, Mekan Agahanov present their poster “A Study on the Current Effects of Flash Floods in NYC on Electric Vehicle Infrastructure.”

Undergraduate student research continues to thrive at New York Tech, with the 30 College of Engineering and Computing Sciences students showcasing their projects on May 9 as part of the Undergraduate Research and Entrepreneurship Program (UREP) providing the most recent evidence.

Presenting their projects on topics ranging from developing green roofing systems for urban agriculture and using AI in dentistry to building robots to mitigate unsolved home invasions, studying the impact of flash floods on electric vehicles in New York City, and much more, the eight teams comprising students from both New York campuses highlighted the findings of their group research or entrepreneurship projects conducted under the guidance of faculty mentors. UREP provides each team with $500 to cover the cost of supplies and materials; the projects can run for a single semester or extend to multiple semesters for teams pursuing further development. 

Since the spring of 2018, more than 300 students have participated in this program established by Associate Professor Ziqian (Cecilia) Dong, Ph.D. , who welcomed faculty, staff, students, and other attendees to the seventh annual event.   

Addressing the student participants, Dean Babak D. Beheshti, Ph.D. , said, “All of you have had a chance to work closely with the College of Engineering and Computing Sciences faculty in an undergraduate research project, which is a really valuable experience for you personally and professionally, and an amazing thing to put on your résumé for whatever pursuit that you have in mind after graduation.”  

Teams featured undergraduate students, ranging from first through fourth year, and from programs including computer science, electrical and computer engineering, and mechanical engineering. Most teams were co-ed. Presented projects included:

2024 UREP Projects and Teams

• Comparative Study of Hydroponic Plant-Disease Detection Systems Team members: Joseann Boneo, Best Justus, Alysar Tabet Faculty mentor: Houwei Cao, Ph.D.
• Identifying Dental Cavities from X-Ray Images Using Cnn Team members: Sarah Allrozamo, Tanuza Abdin, Hannah Ocampo Faculty mentor: Huanying (Helen) Gu, Ph.D.
• Thermoacoustic Refrigeration Team members: Sheikh Ahmar, Jericho Lee, Ernesto Rosas Romero Faculty mentor: James Scire, Ph.D.
• Home Invasion Detection and Preventio Team members: Shan Caballes, Dani Gulino, D’ron Strapp, T’ron Strapp Faculty mentor: Kirti Mishra, Ph.D.
• Level Crossing Analog to Digital Converter Representation Using Chebyshev Polynomials Team members: Pavan Kanakkassery, Emilio Santana-Ferro, Damian Sarjudas Faculty mentor: N. Sertac Artan, Ph.D.
• AI Detection in Creative Writing Team members: Elijah Ewers, Vighanesh Gaund, Cheuk Tung Ho, Wedad Mortada, Tanat Sahta   Faculty mentor: Wenjia Li, Ph.D.
• Interactive Visualization Tool for NYC Open Data Team members: Ali Elshehawi, Ali Khachab, Guang Wei Too, Alan Yuan Faculty mentor: Ziqian (Cecilia) Dong, Ph.D.
• A Study on the Current Effects of Flash Floods in NYC on Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Team members: Mekan Agahanov, Angily Ally, Isha Kaur, Ishaan Singh Faculty mentor: Ziqian (Cecilia) Dong, Ph.D.

Beheshti noted that the variety and depth of the projects speak to the hard work that the teams have put in. He recognized and thanked the faculty mentors and reiterated to the students the importance of this experience gained by “handling an open-ended problem, outside of your classroom, that you owned, and you managed to take from an idea to a concept” and beyond.

By Libby Sullivan

More Features

May 13, 2024

Health Professions Students Shine at Aletheia

May 10, 2024

Alumni Contributing Expertise to BRIIC Construction

May 09, 2024

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4 in 5 Employees Want to Learn How to Use AI at Work, New Research Shows — and It's on Leaders to Teach Them. Here's How. Discover strategies for promoting continuous learning and development, a requisite for survival in today's increasingly AI-powered workplace.

By Aytekin Tank Edited by Kara McIntyre May 7, 2024

Key Takeaways

• While AI can produce impressive results, the integration of human expertise is crucial for adding depth and context to its outputs.
• As AI becomes more entrenched in the workplace, providing training and education on its use ensures workers can harness its potential effectively.

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

A friend realized a lifelong dream of purchasing a tiny, seaside hotel and completely renovating it. Shortly before the grand opening, she created a website. The descriptions of the rooms and property were polished, like something you'd see in a glossy travel magazine. I asked who she'd hired to create the text. Her answer surprised me: the descriptions were courtesy of ChatGPT .

Granted, the text wasn't flawless. It was missing the property's back story — what I saw as a great opportunity to share how my friend had visited the hotel years ago and fell in love with the simple charm. It used the word "meticulous" too many times. My friend's dream hotel website made me realize two things: first, that AI's capabilities are impressive. The OECD recently reported that ChatGPT can write jokes, computer code and essays, formulate medical diagnoses, create games and explain complex scientific concepts. Still, ChatGPT is not perfect. And second, combined with an editor's eye or a human touch , it could be a powerful tool. The whole becomes greater than the sum of its parts.

The AI era has arrived and its potential to transform the work landscape can't be overstated. That said, most knowledgable workers will be able to capitalize on AI to complement their work, rather than replace it entirely. The missing link? Education and training — it's not just an office perk. Recent research has shown that 4 out of 5 employees want to learn more about how to use AI in their profession. It falls on leaders to provide those vital training opportunities.

Here's a closer look at how leaders can bridge the gap between AI and employees and equip them with the skills they need in this age of rapid change.

Related: How to Successfully Implement AI into Your Business — Overcoming Challenges and Building a Future-Ready Team

Why (and what to) learn

As CEO of Jotform , I want our employees to have full lives, and to be able to make time for their friends, families, and hobbies. It's good for their well-being, and as an added perk, it benefits our organization in terms of creativity and productivity. Happier, refreshed employees bring invaluable vigor to their work. I also understand that as a leader it might seem impractical to add learning to employees' already full plates — but continued training is vital for your employees' advancement and your company's health.

Today, the average half-life of skills is less than five years — two-and-a-half years in some tech fields. Research has shown that companies with strong learning cultures see higher retention rates, more internal mobility and a healthier management pipeline versus those with weaker learning cultures. What's more, employees are hungry for new skills, especially Gen Z, the fastest-growing generation of the workforce. The youngest generation of employees (born after 1996) is expected to overtake boomers this year. According to a recent survey, 53% of Gen Z values learning for career progress, versus 37% of millennials, Gen X and boomers collectively.

The question becomes: What are the most important skills to offer employees?

The ability to use new technologies, like AI and automation tools, is the obvious answer. And no doubt, that's part of the equation. But as AI plays a larger role in our work lives, human skills will become more valuable in tandem.

As Harvard Business Review notes, and as my friend's hotel website example demonstrates, AI lacks the human ability to understand context. AI tools like ChatGPT might understand the assignment and execute it almost perfectly, but they lack the "why" of it all and the domain expertise, acquired through years of experience, to assess materials in their larger context.

Other critical skills that AI lacks include people management capabilities, like effective communication, conflict resolution and problem-solving. As Ted English, former CEO of TJX Companies and current executive chairman of Bob's Discount Furniture, told Harvard Business Review , leadership requires "a lot of instinct, experience and knowledge. Some of it you can't get from a machine. Technology reinforces and allows you to make a more confident decision."

We can rely on AI to do certain tasks, from content creation to document review. They can reinforce our work. However, it requires a human eye to review that work product and ensure it has the proper context and quality. In that sense, humans reinforce the work of AI as well.

Related: AI vs. Humanity — Why Humans Will Always Win in Content Creation

Cultivating a learning environment

It's well settled that companies and employees that utilize AI will have a competitive advantage. The challenge for leaders is empowering employees to do so. How can leaders ensure employees are adequately trained to use the latest AI and automation tools?

One side of the equation is motivating employees. Research shows that employees who set career goals are four times more engaged than those who don't set goals. Leaders and managers can set aside time to discuss employees' career goals and how developing certain skills will further those goals.

Of course, the most valuable asset for learning — and the hardest to find — is time. One strategy for making time to learn is building learning into employees' workflow, rather than requiring them to dedicate time outside their typical workday. Research shows that most employees prefer learning that way — in a 2021 BCG survey of 209,000 workers, 65% said they preferred learning on the job. As I've found in almost two decades of running my company, time carved out for training, during lunch or between regularly scheduled tasks is well worth it. It not only changes the pace of the day, but it also challenges employees in new ways, giving a quick boost to daily engagement.

Related: Making Time for Learning When No One Has Time

Another way that leaders can help employees fit training and education into their busy schedules is by promoting an automation-first mindset . Encourage employees to regularly reflect on which tasks are most meaningful to them — which projects and assignments put them in a "flow" state; which ones they wish they could dedicate more time to — and to find AI and automation tools to execute the rest. This practice saves time, speeding up or outsourcing tedious busy work and, most importantly, mental energy.

The advent of AI isn't something to take lightly. But it's not necessarily a shift that employees should fear, either. The businesses that gain a competitive edge from AI will be those that rethink the normal ways of doing things in the age of AI and arm their employees with the resources to capitalize on it. With more time for meaningful work — the stuff that only humans can do — your employees will be happier and your company stronger for it.

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Entrepreneurship and Start-Ups in Africa

The Role in African Business of German Companies

• First Online: 17 November 2023

Cite this chapter

• Philipp von Carlowitz 4  

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Entrepreneurship plays a role both for the development of African countries and for foreign companies with market entry plans. The infrastructural and institutional conditions for entrepreneurship are still difficult, but the advancing digitization leads to an increasingly active start-up scene in many African countries. There is still a mismatch between the areas where start-ups are created and the areas where foreign companies are looking for partners for market entry. Thus, despite positive developments in entrepreneurship, it remains difficult to find suitable partners in the foreseeable future.

Entrepreneurship is an essential driver of societal health and wealth, and a formidable engine of economic growth. from: Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (Bosma et al., 2020 , S. 13)

ESB Business School (Reutlingen University) and Institute for New Markets (InNeMa)

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Philipp von Carlowitz

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von Carlowitz, P. (2023). Entrepreneurship and Start-Ups in Africa. In: Schmidt, T., Pfaffenberger, K., Liebing, S. (eds) Practical Handbook Business in Africa. Springer, Wiesbaden. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-42518-0_3

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-42518-0_3

Published : 17 November 2023

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