When it comes entrepreneurial opportunities for women, Bangladesh is placed bottom among 31 countries as lack of business environment hinder their opportunities, says a latest report.
Sweden, United States, Japan, Germany and United Kingdom (UK) were named best countries for women entrepreneurs, while India ranking 18th and Pakistan 25th, according to the Global Women Entrepreneur Leaders Scorecard released jointly by Dell Inc. and ACG Inc.
The 2015 scorecard evaluates 31 countries across five key categories: relative business environments, access to resources, leadership and rights, pipeline for female entrepreneurship and potential for high-growth women-owned businesses.
In gender access category, it ranked India 28th, Bangladesh 29th and Pakistan 31st while in leadership and rights category, India is ranked 28th, Bangladesh 30th and Pakistan 31st.
Sweden topped the list due to predominantly favourable business environment and women’s job mobility in the private sector registering an overall score of 81%. UK made to the top positions with 98% in gender access category and USA was placed in first position in leadership and rights category.
The report said there is still a wide disparity among countries when it comes to access to fundamental resources such as education, internet, bank accounts and Small and Medium Enterprise training programmes.
“More than 70% of the 31 countries in the study score below 50% demonstrating a significant growth gap between female and male-owned businesses worldwide,” the report said.
“The success of entrepreneurs and small businesses is critical for a thriving global economy, and at Dell we believe women entrepreneurs must play a much more prominent role in business and leadership in the future,” Karen Quintos, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Dell said.
In another report titled 2015 Female Entrepreneurship Index, Bangladesh was ranked 75th among 77 countries.
India, despite its recent economic surge, was placed in 70th position and Pakistan in bottom place. The top five ranking nations are the US, Australia, Germany, and France.
The index is based on 30 indicators, including individual aspirations, business environments and entrepreneurial ecosystems and it covers high-potential women entrepreneurs who are defined as innovative, market expanding and export oriented.
Other interesting findings included the lack of venture capital funding for women entrepreneurs, even in the developed nations. For example, in the US, only 3-5% of venture financing goes to women-owned businesses.
The index also pointed to the fallacy of thinking of economic development as an indicator of a healthy ecosystem of women entrepreneurs, saying that while in some countries, female entrepreneurship is low even though the business environment is right.
Here, social and cultural norms that make it less conducive for women to become entrepreneurs. For example, Japan, UK and the US are all high-income countries but Japan has the lowest percentage of female managers (9%) compared to US (43%), leaving many women in Japan without the experience and skills to start their own businesses.
