Untapping the potential of female entrepreneurs: source of economic hope

Untapping the potential of female entrepreneurs: source of economic hope

Driven by the goal of furthering women’s empowerment, RMIT academic Dr Greeni Maheshwari has explored the increased inequality issues faced by Vietnamese women, especially the female-owned small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam.

The COVID-19 pandemic has fuelled existing inequalities of women in SMEs which bring short-run and long-run implications on the economy of the countries across the global.

These areas include inequalities between households within countries, inequalities between different economies of countries and inequalities in the employment sector, gender, education, and age-factor across the globe and in Vietnam.

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Challenges faced by women-owned SMEs in the context of Vietnam

As per the 2020 Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs report, Vietnam was ranked 25th in 2020 out of the 58 economies as compared to 18th rank in 2019, slipping by 7 ranks. In Vietnam, almost 80% of businesses owned by women were impacted by COVID-19 as compared to around 60% of male-owned businesses. More than 50% of the women-led enterprises in Vietnam operate in highly impacted sectors such as accommodation and food, wholesale and retail, and manufacturing reflecting that women-owned businesses were more vulnerable as compared to men-owned businesses.

RMIT School of Business & Management lecturer and researcher Dr Greeni Maheshwari believes it becomes even more important to support businesses run by female-entrepreneurs to help them recover, especially after COVID-19.

“Empowering women increases social and economic benefits and creating more women entrepreneurs is part of the government’s agenda in Vietnam. Government expects to see 27% of women-led entrepreneurs out of all enterprises by 2025 and 30% by 2030 with an aim to meet the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals 5 (Gender equality) and 8 (Decent work and economic growth),” Dr Maheshwari said.

“Vietnam aims to progress from lower to upper middle-income status by 2035, and hence it is important that Vietnam champions women entrepreneurship domestically for the development of the country.”

Dr Greeni Maheshwari shared the difficulties faced by female-owned SMEs.

"Despite the government's efforts in providing support to women-led businesses, challenges still exist in terms of financial constraints, lack of motivation, low levels of digital literacy, fear of failure and lack of family support," she said.

“Women faces multiple barriers at macro, meso and micro levels and the lack of skills in areas such as human resource management, financial management and training programs."

"The government can provide appropriate support to female entrepreneurs to overcome these barriers which further can help in empowering the women in Vietnam and help economic growth."

Empowering women increases social and economic benefits and encourages more female entrepreneurs. Empowering women increases social and economic benefits and encourages more female entrepreneurs.

Women entrepreneurs: moving beyond the challenges

Despite the challenges, women entrepreneurs have shown resilience and displayed impressive leadership skills during the pandemic.

“Women entrepreneurs have shown flexibility to adapt to changing business models, embrace technology to adapt to new business models and have also established women-led platforms to share, monitor, and coach the young female fellows,” Dr Maheshwari said.

Dr Maheshwari’s research Growing inequalities in the COVID-19 pandemic and their effect on women entrepreneurship: A case of Vietnam was published in International Entrepreneurship Review.

Dr Greeni Maheshwari has been working as a lecturer at RMIT Vietnam. Her research focuses on gender and higher education, women’s academic career, women’s role in SMEs. She also conducts research in leadership, educational topics, entrepreneurship and finance-related topics.

Story: Thuy Le

07 March 2022

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