She Knows What Her Business Needs—So Why Are Systems Holding Her Back?
CARE Women’s Entrepreneurship Director, Sarah Hewitt on what’s holding back women entrepreneurs
Originally published on Business Fights Poverty.
Who comes to mind when you imagine a confident entrepreneur? A Silicon Valley tech bro or navy-suited executive in a Western business hub, most likely. But zoom out to the Global Majority and you’ll see something incredibly powerful and systemically ignored: women entrepreneurs leading sustainable businesses with exceeding vision and drive.
There’s a credit gap, not a confidence gap, limiting women entrepreneurs.
Women represent only one in four high-growth entrepreneurs globally. Yet, they are not holding themselves back. Instead, they are systematically disadvantaged by social and institutional barriers, leaving one in three unable to access the critical financial resources needed for business growth.
New research conducted through the Strive Women program, implemented by CARE and supported by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, reveals that 96% of the 2,000 women entrepreneurs spoken to (in countries as different as Pakistan, Peru and Vietnam) report high confidence in their ability to lead and grow their businesses, and 87% have the specific goal to do so.
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