Women and sustainable enterprises: why do they choose them?
Research suggests that some female qualities and experiences may be behind their choice to become social and sustainable entrepreneurs. It appears that social enterprise is continuously fostering gender balance as leaders and in the workforce levels. The social and sustainable enterprise business plan and model continues to attract women: 38% of social ventures are now led by women, while there are more than twice as many men than women in conventional business(source: The Guardian).
So why are more female entrepreneurs choosing social enterprise over traditional businesses? Exploring the variances between men and women in launching start-ups helps enlighten the issue.
The successful social entrepreneur can be described as innovative, resourceful, zealous, focused, an excellent communicator, a planned risk taker, impatient, tenacious, a firm leader and ingenious while being an expert in his/her chosen area and self-confident. There are endless combinations of these qualities, which are certainly not gender specified. Several studies state successful entrepreneurs are similar in most respects, regardless of gender. However, the majority of evidence (research-based and anecdotal) points to some differences between men and women when it comes to enterprise.
When it comes to risk and growth, men tend to do more research and try to detect business prospects, are more likely to start a business with profits in mind, and have higher hopes for their business in terms of money, size and rate of growth. Thinking big and taking a risk is more common among male entrepreneurs.
Women often launch businesses to gain a better balance in their work and family life: affluence is not the main focus or goal. Women tend to select lower risk openings, often even with smaller returns, fewer employees and a more localized customer base. In spite of limited growth paths, female entrepreneurs are more likely to earn positive revenues and offer employees benefits focusing on family, such as flexible working hours, job sharing and remote working.
In terms of accessing finance and investment opportunities, according to studies, almost half of women (45%) report access to finance as a barrier to launching an enterprise, compared with 36% of men. Male entrepreneurs are mostly seeking investment externally by approaching venture capitalists or banks, thus acquiring more capital for their enterprises. Women launch their businesses with considerably smaller amounts of capital than men and prefer internal sources of equity for their businesses, like borrowing from family and personal networks, or depending on grants. Evidence also suggests that external funding is limited by the relatively small number of female angel and capital investors, which further precludes women from gaining capital using these avenues.
Adding on, in terms of confidence, quoting the RBS Women in Enterprise that defines entrepreneurial capital as a combination of human capital (education, experience), social capital (networks) and financial capital (income, savings, collateral). According to the report, women typically enter business ownership with lower levels of entrepreneurial capital overall. Combined with an absence of relevant female role models, women tend to have lower self-confidence, even compared to men with similar entrepreneurial capital.
Examining the characteristics of the model ,the repute for partnership and innovation, the goal of creating positive results for the workforce, customers and communities, and the ever-growing popularity of alternative funding resources as crowd funding , it is clear why starting a social and sustainable enterprise is appealing to both genders.
Acknowledging the differences can serve to explain why social and sustainable enterprise appeals to the way women want to do business. It also helps identify and address obstacles that could hold women back, and to figure a way how to encourage women into the sector and support them effectively once they decide to do it.
By supporting female social and sustainable entrepreneurs and showing them the proper way to do it, we are all supporting the growth of the sector too.
This support came in Greece, Spain and Croatia via the European program, WISE (Women Innovators in Sustainable Enterprise) which has been completed and women innovators from Greece are being awarded for their excellence in social entrepreneurship and also for their outstanding performance in learning the sustainable how-to effectively and efficiently.
