Gender And Entrepreneurship In Ethiopia

Among the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, Goal 5 explicitly recognizes the need for gender equality, including women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision making in political, economic and public life. However, this goal is very much a work in progress in the economic sphere in many parts of the world. In Africa, the rate of increase of new business start-ups by female entrepreneurs’ trails that of men and gender-based barriers inhibit African women from participating fully in economic activities. The Commission for Africa Report states that women head one in five households; they are responsible for 80 per cent of agricultural production and all of the household production. Yet they are systematically excluded from institutions and have fewer opportunities to generate income. The report recommends promoting small enterprises with a particular focus on youth and women as a critical development objective for Africa. Since many institutional barriers prevent almost one half of the population from being full-participants in the economy in many nations, it is imperative that these barriers be better understood so that they can be reduced, if not eliminated entirely. However, there is a paucity of research on women entrepreneurs and as a result, evidence-based solutions to eliminate these barriers are still quite limited. We propose to compare the personality traits and motivations of men and women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia with a view to isolating the unique hurdles encountered by female entrepreneurs. We also examine the success of enterprises started/operated by women versus those by men. Based on our research, we offer recommendations for how the skills and competencies of Ethiopian women entrepreneurs can be enhanced through targeted training programmes that will enable them to achieve greater success. Also, this will help them come closer to achieving the gender equality goals of the UN and help grow the nation’s economy. We are hopeful that the implications of this study’s findings will help not only Ethiopian and African women entrepreneurs, but female entrepreneurs in other emerging markets as well.