Success factors of Women entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia.
Education
Small and medium enterprises comprised 92% of the businesses in the country in 2010. In 2007, Prince Sultan bin Abdul started a fund aimed at supporting women to set up and manage business ventures. In 2 years the project had already set up 32 firms for different women organizations. The creation of King Abdullah University of Science and Technology was an addition to the Kingdom (US-Arab Tradeline, 2010). It was important in the production of graduates that were tech savvy hence development of the Kingdom in more technologic ways of running the enterprises. According to Sadi et al., the number of the women that start businesses they seek to be more autonomous (2009). Being able to make decisions has become one of the reasons that women are quick to join companies and become creative.
Leadership
The leadership of the country has been in the forefront supporting the women to become more entrepreneurial and eventually to become non-consumers for the government. According to Alhabidi, (2013), women have a greater challenge in carrying out their activities than the males. Because they are restricted by the lack of business education, less concern from the government resulting to no funding. The Fund also gives education to young women and ladies in school. To prepare them and give them the exposure that such groups are in existence and when done with school they can join and apply for the loans and develop themselves. The Kingdom has had significant improvement in the past few years. In 2010, they declared the work harder to join in and be among the powerful and competitive. The Chamber of Commerce has been encouraged to set aside female training, women funds, and females only sections in the government, for example, some of the tenders and loans cannot be applied for by men to give better chances to women as well (Sadi et al., 2009).
Culture
A qualitative study was done to find out the factors that motivated women to become entrepreneurs despite the cultural beliefs of the people of the kingdom (Fallatah, 2012). Social entrepreneurship is one of the aspects that have given the women an edge in the competition. This kind of undertakings not only seek to make a profit but also to make a difference for the people as well as the community at large. In this attempt, the people become more loyal to the businesses that show interest in the society (Nieva,2015). A third of the female population has become part of the business world. One of the challenges that they face is start-up capital for such ventures resulting in the creation of smaller businesses. Societal bias and norms also prohibit women from entering into the act, and that limits the number that has the freedom to help in the general growth of the Kingdom.
The result expressed that they had adequate family support, both nuclear and extended. The government had established initiatives that helped women by giving grants and loans. Professionalism is also a significant factor, with most of the women attending school. They can manage their businesses efficiently. The business environment has also grown more friendly; people have adopted partnership as a method of collecting wealth and capital for businesses to start up.
References
Alhabidi, M. (2013). Saudi Women Entrepreneur Over Coming Barriers in Alkhober. A Thesis Paper. Arizona State University. Retrieved from https://repository.asu.edu/attachments/114415/content/Alhabidi_asu_0010N_13058.pdf
Fallatah, H. (2012). Women Entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia: Investigating Strategies used by Successful Saudi Women Entrepreneurs. A Thesis Paper Lincoln University. Retrieved from https://researcharchive.lincoln.ac.nz/bitstream/handle/10182/4795/Fallatah_mcm.pdf?seq uence=3
Sadi et al., (2009). Doing Business with Impudence: A Focus on Women Entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia. African Journal of Business Management. 4(1). p.1-11
Nieva, O. F. (2015). Social Women Entrepreneurs in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research. 5:11
US-Arab Tradeline. (2010). Incubating the Future: Entrepreneurship in Saudi Arabia. US-Arab Tradeline Vol18 (1)
