The profile of female entrepreneurship

Emotional motivation and careful moves on the one hand, excellence in key financial indicators on the other. What is the “personality” of female entrepreneurship? In Greece, the penetration rate of women entrepreneurship rose to 25.1% in 2020, increased by 5.5 percentage points compared to 2015. For the same six years, a 28% increase was recorded in the participation of women in high-ranking positions in the Greek corporate sector.

In fact, according to the latest ICAP study, women run micro-enterprises with less than 9 employees at a rate of 25.8% or small enterprises with 10-49 employees at a rate of 21.5%. The highest percentage of participation is found in companies with an annual turnover of less than 2 million euros (26.9%).

Women entrepreneurs excel in efficiency

Women’s entrepreneurship and gender performance in management are mapped by ICAP and Focus-Bari surveys conducted on behalf of Vodafone. In a comparative analysis of the key financial figures (2019) of very small enterprises controlled or managed by 1,262 women and 5,051 men, ICAP recorded 10 key financial factors in which women excel. Among them, companies headed by women showed in 2019 a higher rate of return on capital  (5.36%) compared to those run by men (4.3%). This is in fact true for all the sub-sectors examined, ie trade, industry, services, tourism, insurance.

According to ICAP analysis, women who lead companies have a special ability to use their capital and make profits, pay special attention to maintaining the profitability of their businesses at high levels and enhance their liquidity. They are distinguished by dedication, consistency, insight, discipline and self-sufficiency, elements that lead them to focus on the continuous development and minimization of the debt dependence of the companies they lead.

What pushes and what “brakes” women entrepreneurs?

According to research by Focus – Bari, also on behalf of Vodafone, as part of the development of the WomenInBusiness.Connected initiative to support women entrepreneurs, women are driven into business mainly emotionally. They want to fulfill their dream, to gain their independence, or out of love for the object of their work, while for men the number one “motivation” is to get a lot of money.

Patience and composure, personal interest and sociability are the key characteristics that women entrepreneurs recognize in themselves. At the same time, however, they have limited self-confidence in relation to men, who rank this feature at the top, while taking smaller risks and preferring more careful movements.

The big gender gap is to be found, according to the results of Focus – Bari research in the field of technology. Women recognize the lack of specialized technology knowledge as the most important obstacle in their business development. Of the women entrepreneurs surveyed, 33% said they either knew only the basics of technology or had no contact with the digital world. This percentage among men was limited to 22%.

Wanting to support women entrepreneurship, Vodafone developed the WomenInBusiness.Connected initiative, through which it provides free creation and operation of a website or e-shop for one year, free upgrade of connection at high speeds of 100 Mbps also for one year, as well as specialized consulting support by Vodafone Business Advisor.