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Women entrepreneurs still lack government support
2006-01-04 14:25:01
By Beatrice Philemon
Women entrepreneurship in African countries must be promoted to strengthen the private sector as a prime creator of employment and economic growth, it has been advised.
For enhancing women entrepreneurs’ business opportunities and to make them oriented to technology and other procedural requirements, well thought out specialized training programs need to be planned for timely implementation.
The cost of such training programs should be subsidized to make them affordable, and female illiteracy in comparison to male can be considered as a deterrent to entrepreneurship.
Dr Gurmeet Singh, Assistant Professor in the Department of Management, Faculty of Business and Economics of Addis Ababa University, made the remarks recently in Dar es Salaam.
He said that improvement in women’s qualifications through related business education will definitely give them a competitive edge.
He added that women entrepreneurs affected by a shortage of capital need to be supported by formulating some criterion based schemes, noting that low interest rates, priority allocation of credit and foreign exchange, and preferential loans can help in mitigating this problem.
’I am saying this because research studies revealed that though micro- lending programs are widely available for women in Africa, access to finance is still not easy.’
Also, the studies found an absence of training and linkages between financial services and business development services (BDS) that target women entrepreneurs.
The allocations of African budgets to women entrepreneurs have been considered, as ’peanuts’ and various forums have demanded appropriate budgets, and more representation for women.
He said there are reports claiming discrimination against women entrepreneurs when applying for loans from private sector banks, even though they often have superior collateral.
As a result, women should be supported more because entrepreneurship is a virtue that is capable of removing all the vices associated with lack of economic growth, social disparities and unemployment.
He said that currently, many countries of the world are actively seeking ways and means to promote entrepreneurship as they increasingly realize its potential .
Development of entrepreneurship in the small-scale sector has been also cited as the primary startup in this regard, and the scope of its application is unlimited and able to take on every conceivable venture.
He also added that the development of a strong private sector is a necessity for the growth and advancement of any country.
He said an effervescent and productive private sector creates opportunities, increases income and generates wealth, which in turn brings about economic growth and development.
Furthermore, a strong private industrial sector cannot be conceptualized without an environment predominantly marked by the spirit of entrepreneurship.
’I am saying this because entrepreneurship is being considered as an important ingredient in the modern global economic development recipe,’said Singh.
According to him, US studies indicate that 90 percent of employment growth originates from the entrepreneurial sector of the economy and this applies to other countries as well where entrepreneurship has gained importance in pursuit of growth.
Elaborating on women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia, Dr Rakesh Belwal, Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Business and Economics of Addis Ababa University, said that the journey of business enterprises in Ethiopia has not been an easy ride.
Though small scale industries (SSIs) have been the bastion of the economy, their advancement over the past decades has not been encouraging .
Their transformation into medium scale industries (MSIs) has been minimal and almost negligible into large-scale industries (LSIs).
’Whatever development has been there in the name of industries, it is primarily because of micro and small medium enterprises (SMEs)’, said Dr Belwal
According to him, until the late 1990s, the government was not particularly interested in the micro and small enterprises sector and there were no attempts to develop the databases and classification systems for the enterprises.
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