Mastercard Index - SA Women’s Full Potential as Entrepreneurs Yet to be Unleashed (Infographic)
While
South Africa has made significant progress in creating equal access for
women to financial services and tertiary education, the number of women
business owners are constrained due to the lack of perceived business
opportunities,
funding, and motivation, according to findings from the inaugural
Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs (MIWE).
South Africa ranks 21st
(64.4) on the Index, which tracks female entrepreneurs’ ability to
capitalise on opportunities granted through various supporting
conditions within their local
environments. The index uses three components made up of 12 indicators
and 25 sub-indicators to look at how 54 economies, representing 78.6
percent of the world’s female labour force, differ in terms of the level
of Women’s Advancement Outcomes, Knowledge
Assets & Financial Access, and Supporting Entrepreneurial Factors.
Despite a healthy MIWE score,
women account for only 19.1 percent of business owners in South Africa
(rank 44), indicating that women’s progress in entrepreneurship has been
disappointingly low compared to its global
counterparts. Uganda (34.8 percent) and Botswana (34.6 percent) rank
first and second in the world for Women Business Owners, with other
developing countries such as Russia, Bangladesh, China and Vietnam also
in the top 10. New Zealand (third) and Australia
(fifth) are the developed countries with highest rates of female
business owners.
“South Africa’s resourceful
women are one of its biggest assets, yet it is evident that South
African women’s full potential and value as entrepreneurs and business
owners are yet to be unleashed,” says Mark Elliott,
Division President, Mastercard South Africa. “We must accelerate our
efforts to dismantle the structural obstacles and biases that impede
female entrepreneurship so that women can play an enlarged role in South
Africa’s economic growth story.”
Looking
at the Indices’ three components, South Africa has an average Women’s
Advancement Outcome score of 52.7 (rank 27), indicating that women’s
progress and degree of marginalization economically
and professionally as business leaders, professionals, entrepreneurs
and labour force participants is on par with its global counterparts.
Gender
inequality towards women remains in the workplace, particularly in the
areas of leadership, with three women business leaders for every 10
business leaders. This is mirrored by a low
labour force participation rate, with only 46.3 percent of women
compared to 60.6 percent for men in South Africa’s workforce, and a low
rate of women’s entrepreneurial activity, with only seven percent of
working age women in the labour force engaged in early-stage
entrepreneurial activities compared to 11.6 percent for men.
Mastercard’s research shows that
women in South Africa excel in the Knowledge Assets & Financial
Access Component (81.9, rank 3), which gauges women’s progress and
degree of marginalisation as financial customers and
academically in terms of tertiary education enrollment. Not only are
they as well-educated as their male counterparts in tertiary education,
they have good access to financial services, and Small Medium Enterprise
(SME) support.
Despite this, women’s progress
and growth in the business world has been severely undermined by a low
perception of business opportunities, and poor self-confidence, which
are further compounded by a high level of business
discontinuance, effectively feeding the already high fear of failure.
“We observe that indicators such
as SME support and financial inclusion are important in supporting
women’s entrepreneurship in South Africa, but are not necessarily the
drivers of women’s advancement as business owners.
An accelerated and concerted focus on improving business skills,
funding and business opportunities while reducing deterrents such as
crime will be key in pushing South African women’s progress in the
business world,” says Elliott.
The Supporting Entrepreneurial
Conditions Component benchmarks how supportive entrepreneurial
conditions are as enablers or constraints of women business ownership.
Here, South Africa ranks 31st with a score of 62.7.
While South Africa performs well for quality of governance and
moderately for ease of doing business, it scores slightly lower for
cultural perceptions of women entrepreneurs.
“While South Africa has made
some solid progress in creating supportive conditions for women
entrepreneurs, more must be done to ensure women fully harness these
opportunities. It’s vital that the public and private sector
work together with development organizations to support South African
women in fulfilling their potential as business owners and innovators.
When that happens, the whole of society will benefit,” says Elliott.
The full report is available to download here:
http://mstr.cd/2mgm2Rm
Methodology
The Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs tracks female entrepreneurs’ ability to capitalize on opportunities granted through various supporting conditions within their local environments and is the weighted sum of three components: 1) “Women’s Advancement Outcomes” (degree of bias against women as workforce participants, political and business leaders, as well as the financial strength and entrepreneurial inclination of women), 2) “Knowledge Assets and Financial Assets” (degree of access women have to basic financial services, advanced knowledge assets, and support for small and medium enterprises), and 3) “Supporting Entrepreneurial Conditions” (overall perceptions on the ease on conducting business locally, quality of local governance, women’s perception of safety levels and cultural perception of women’s household financial influence).
The index uses 12 indicators and 25 sub-indicators to look at how 54 economies across Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa, North America, Latin America and Europe, representing 78.6 percent of the world’s female labor force, differ in terms of the level of Women’s Advancement Outcomes, Knowledge Assets & Financial Access, and Supporting Entrepreneurial Factors.
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