The female entrepreneur’s financial networks: accessing finance for the emergence of technology-based firms in Jordan

In this paper, we focus on how female entrepreneurs in Jordan finance the establishment and early growth of their technology-based ventures. Previous research exploring the experiences of female entrepreneurs, undertaken primarily in Western, developed countries, had emphasised their early reliance on informal capital, sourced via personal networks, acquaintances, friends and family. Little was known, however, about the experiences of women in developing economies, such as the Middle East, where they represent a growing proportion of the educated and entrepreneurial populations, albeit from a small base. The study discussed here investigated the entrepreneurial journey of the female founders of 16 technology-based firms in Jordan, adopting a network perspective to explore how they accessed sources of finance and investigate the dynamic nature and characteristics of their financial ties, from start-up through to early growth. Our findings show how, compared with their western counterparts, these Jordanian women adopt a very different approach to venture funding from the start, relying more heavily on formal sources and networks. In securing funds from formal business networks ties, they leverage benefits from connections established via formal events and networking platforms to facilitate development of their financial network ties at a very early stage.