Financing Women Enterprises: The New Model

Starting or running an enterprise, especially women enterprises, involves some tasking decisions as to where to source for finance; yet women entrepreneurs create jobs and contribute to economic development of their families and communities. Evidence has proved that women enterprises could be an effective strategy for poverty reduction in a country, since women are the worst hit in such situations. They constitute a larger percentage of the population in most countries and the rate of their participation in the informal economic sector is higher than their male counterparts, yet they face obstacles such as low business performance due to lack of micro-finance, poverty, unemployment and low household income especially in developing countries. For proper understanding, the book is divided into four major parts. Part one discusses role of women entrepreneurs in economic development of nation. Part two shows some women enterprise development programs in a developing nation while part three reviews related literature and part four summarizes the results; thus producing a new model for women enterprise financing. The book results from PhD research submitted to Universiti Utara Malaysia.