Women grabbing business

According to the World Bank and Asian Development Bank funded Country Gender Assessment for Laos, the share of women owning businesses in urban areas has reached 52 per cent, while 48 per cent of enterprises in cities are owned by men.

The increasing number of women doing business in cities is the result of spreading urbanisation. As the number of consumers grows, there is a corresponding need for more shops, so women are increasingly selling goods from their homes or in markets.

However, in rural areas, the share of women running a business remains less than that for men, with only 47 per cent of businesses owned by women.

A survey carried out in five major provinces by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) also found that the share of businesses owned or managed by women rose from 36 per cent in 2005 to 41 per cent in 2009.

However, most of the businesses run by women are small compared to those owned by men.

Operations run by women have fewer employees and 2.5 times less turnover. The average size of the businesses owned by women on start-up is 29.5 employees, compared with 94.9 for start-ups owned by men. Women’s enterprises are less likely to be part of a larger group of companies, and less likely to be foreign-owned, the Country Gender Assessment highlights.

The assessment also finds that women’s businesses employ more female workers and use less technology, and their senior managers tend to be less educated than those in male-owned firms. Only 20 per cent of the women’s enterprises, compared with 43 per cent of male-owned firms, employ a top manager with a graduate degree from a foreign university.

The female-owned enterprises are less likely to have a bank account overdraft or credit line..

The top three constraints faced by women’s and men’s operations are high tax rates, difficulty in accessing finance and an inadequately educated workforce. But women’s businesses are more likely than men’s to cite financial obstacles as the largest constraint.