Factors influencing women business development in the developing countries: Evidence from Bangladesh

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine factors that influence women entrepreneurship development in Bangladesh. Design/methodology/approach: The paper adopts quantitative and qualitative analyses of possible factors that may affect the development of women entrepreneurships such as: age, education, socio-culture, motivation, market information, business idea, enterprise creation, advocacy and decision making, enabling environment, and financing. A questionnaire was used to provide empirical evidence on the variables and to estimate the model employed by the study. Findings: The analyses revealed that women face problems in establishing their own businesses in every step that they take. The desire for financial independence and decision making, market and informational network, availability of a start-up capital, knowledge and skills, and responsibility towards children are the main factors that impact women's decision to become self-entrepreneurs. The regression analysis, however, revealed that participation in women associations, advocacy, and decision making (self-fulfillment) and knowledge are the main factors that affect women's decision to develop their business. Yet, the results indicated that religion does not influence women's entrepreneurship development. Research limitations/implications: The questionnaire survey employed in this paper is confined only to a women population who passed grade five and above as semi-educated or educated women respondents group. The paper excludes homeless women or those who live in the slum urban areas. Practical implications: The outcome of this paper can be used by researchers, government, non-governmental organizations, civil society, and local community to formulate effective policy that motivate women to become entrepreneurs. This will have a positive effect on women participation on the economic development of Bangladesh. Originality/value: This paper will be the first to provide empirical evidence on factors that affect women's entrepreneurship development in the urban Bangladesh.