WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN A SMALL ISLAND STATE: MAURITIUS

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1 WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN A SMALL ISLAND STATE: MAURITIUS Ms Mridula Gungaphul, m.gungaphul@uom.ac.mu,university of Mauritius (Reduit), Mauritius ABSTRACT The increasing number of women starting their own businesses in many countries led to numerous researches in the field of women entrepreneurship. However, the research carried out and results obtained apply mostly to developed countries and may not necessarily reflect the realities of developing countries (Hisrich and Öztürk, 1999). Consequently, research on women entrepreneurs in less developed countries and in Mauritius is scant. This study explores some of the most pertinent issues related to women entrepreneurs in Mauritius, a small developing island state. It is intended to explore the factors that affect women entrepreneurship. For this study, a qualitative research approach is adopted in the form of in-depth interviews and consisting of thirty women entrepreneurs. KEYWORDS Women entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship, Mauritius, motivation, characteristics. 1. INTRODUCTION Entrepreneurship is a major instrument leading to economic growth in all economies whether developed, in transition, or developing (GEM Report, 00) Entrepreneurship is considered as the backbone of economic growth and it is obvious that a tremendous number of people are engaged in entrepreneurial endeavors around the globe (GEM 00). Its significant contribution to economic development (OECD 1996; GEM, 008), structural change (Quince and Whittaker, 003), job creation (Holmund and Kock, 1998) and poverty alleviation (Thompson, 1999) is well documented in the literature. Further, since the 1970 s researchers have paid particular attention to women entrepreneurs given that women have started operating their own businesses at increasing rates and are largely contributing to the global economy (Allen et al., 008). They make remarkable contributions to innovation, employment and wealth creation (Brush et al., 009). Much research on women entrepreneurs have attempted to compare them with men entrepreneurs. Although the rate at which women are forming businesses has increased significantly in many countries, however, when compared to men, the rates of female entrepreneurial activity are considerably lower than that of their male counterparts (Jamali, 009; Langowitz and Minniti, 007; Verheul et al., 006) and in some countries, such as in Latin America, it is reported that women entrepreneurs are practically invisible (Berger and Buvinic, 1989). The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) which carried out a survey in 00 in 37 countries reports that women participate in the entrepreneurial process at about half the rate of men and that more male than female entrepreneurs were active in all countries who participated in the 004 GEM (Verheul et al., 006). Mauritius is no exception, with a significant difference between male and female employers. The GEM 00 reports that although men and women entrepreneurs are influenced by the same factors in starting entrepreneurial ventures, there are however, significant differences. For example, the survey shows that in developed countries, more participation in the labour force is associated with higher level of women entrepreneurship. Conversely, in developing countries, women prefer taking up paid employment when there are job opportunities rather than starting their own businesses. The literature points out that most of the research on women entrepreneurship have been conducted in developed countries (Hisrich and Ozturk, 1999) and that the few which have been carried out in developing countries involve large countries such as India, Pakistan and Tanzania (Hossein et al., 009). As a result, compared to developed nations, little is known about entrepreneurship in less developed countries and even lesser in small island states such as Mauritius. 35

2 1.1. Women In Mauritius: A Brief Mauritius is a developing country and is a small island state of about 1,865 sq. km situated in the Indian Ocean at 800 kms off the east coast of Madagascar. Its population of just over 1. million consists of descendants from diverse ethnic origins - Indian, African, Chinese and European. Women represent 51% of the population and its share of employment stood at 35% in 009. The total rate of unemployment was 7.4% however it should be pointed out that the rate of female employment is much higher than that of males, that is 1.8% compared to 4.% (CSO, 009). Statistics reveal that women entrepreneurs still lag behind their male counterparts. Sawkut et al. (009), report that there were,78 female entrepreneurs compared to male ownership of 4,656 in 00. As regards the sector of activities, a survey carried out in 000 reveal that nearly 65% of women operated in the services sector (Day-Hookoomsing and Essoo, 003). As most women in Mauritius operate micro businesses or SMEs, accordingly this study will focus on these categories of businesses. 1.. Objectives It is in this context that the author seeks to explore the factors that affect women entrepreneurs in Mauritius. More specifically the objectives seek to identify the personal characteristics of women entrepreneurs to explore the factors that motivate women to start entrepreneurial activities to identify the sources of finance of women entrepreneurs at start-up. This study does not attempt to compare male and female entrepreneurs but rather to unearth the motives of the women entrepreneurs, their personal characteristics and their sources of finance. The findings are expected to assist policy makes in Mauritius in their future attempts to formulate support programmes for women entrepreneurs.. LITERATURE REVIEW.1. The Entrepreneur: A Definition To date, there is still no consensus of what or who is an entrepreneur and as a result, various definitions are provided in the literature to explain who really is an entrepreneur. Deakins (1996) defines an entrepreneur as the product of a particular environment, while Carland et al., (1984) see the entrepreneur as someone who plays a particular role in society and the economic environment. The definition of Bygrave (1984) assumes an entrepreneur to be someone who spots an opportunity and pursues it through the creation of a business. The foregoing suggests that an entrepreneur may be someone who creates his or her own business to pursue an opportunity that he or she has spotted earlier. It also suggests that an entrepreneur may be someone who owns a micro, small, medium or large business. Still, distinctions can be found in the literature regarding entrepreneurs and small business owners. Those having an interest in profit maximization, growth and innovative behaviour are referred to as entrepreneurs whereas small business owners are concerned in pursuing personal goals, are involved in a business that is closely linked with their family and that takes up most of their resources and time (Carland et al., 1984). In Mauritius, the majority of women-owned businesses are mainly micro or small. Therefore, for the purpose of this paper, an entrepreneur and a small business owner will be considered to have the same meaning and this definition is in line with the definition proposed by Sarri and Trihopoulou (005). The following sections identifie the factors affecting women entrepreneurship. The importance of women in entrepreneurship and their significant contribution to the economy is well acknowledged in the literature (Sarri and Trihopoulou, 005). Consequently, much attention has been devoted to the reasons why women choose to become entrepreneurs (Schwartz, 1976; Goffee and Scase, 1985; Hisrich and Brush, 1986). According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 004 report (GEM) on women entrepreneurship, it is reported that the motives for entrepreneurship is linked to either opportunity or necessity. As stated by Hisrich (1999), the motives for becoming an entrepreneur is rarely a clear-cut selection of push and pull factors and a combination of both factors encourages female entrepreneurship (Sarri and Trihopoulou (005). 36

3 .. Personal Factors Affecting Women Entrepreneurship Several factors may influence the decision for or against women entrepreneurship. Literature cites amongst others, personal characteristics, finance, and business characteristics as the most important ones (Sarri and Trihopoulou, 005; Minniti and Bygrave, 003; Naser et al., 009; Carter et al., 001; Dechant and Al-Lamky, 005). These factors are reviewed in the following sections..1. Age One of the main factors affecting women entrepreneurship and that is widely documented in the literature concerns their personal characteristics. In general, women embrace entrepreneurship between the age range of (Nearchou-Ellinas and Kountouris, 004; Carter and Anderson, 001) indicating that women start running their businesses at an older age. This late entry may be explained by several factors including, family obligations (Trihopoulou and Sarri, 1997) and glass ceiling factors (Kephart and Schumacher 005). However, other studies indicate that more women are now starting business at a much earlier age. In a recent study on Nigerian women entrepreneurs, the authors found that nearly half of their sample of women entrepreneurs started their business between 19-4 years old (Mordi et al., 010)... Education Regarding education, most studies are inconsistent about education and women business owners. Findings from various studies researching women entrepreneurs indicate that the level of education of women entrepreneurs is high. In their study conducted in Greece, Sarri and Trihopoulou (005) indicate that the level of education is quite high and the authors pointed out that at least 4% of women entrepreneurs in Greece are graduates. However, during a conference organized by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in July 004 participants reported that well-educated women are less likely to become entrepreneurs (Naser et al., 009) suggesting that women entrepreneurs have a low education level...3 Marital status As far as marital status is concerned, women entrepreneurs tend to be married with children (Nearchou- Ellinas and Kountouris, 004; Hisrich and Ozturk, 1999), which also explains to some extent their late entry in entrepreneurial activities...4 Choice of business According to Capowski (199) women entrepreneurs are predominant in the service industry, which is attributed to the traditional female upbringing. Similarly, Kepler and Shane (007) and Brush et al., (006) suggest that female-led businesses are more likely to be found in personal services and retail trade and less likely to be found in manufacturing and high technology. Since their young age women are expected to help in the home and have been educated to be service-oriented, which explains why entrepreneurial activities are concentrated in the services sector. Thus, the choice of industry is based on their previous life experiences and which reflect their personality and values. In addition, due to social factors, women tend to choose specific sectors that are considered to be acceptable for women, and because they face certain barriers in other sectors (Mirchandani, 1999). With regards to the relationship between choice of sector and previous experience, studies carried out seem to suggest that there is a positive relationship since it is viewed as less risky to enter into a business in which the entrepreneur has prior knowledge. Bosma et al., (004) found that the industry experience of the entrepreneur increases firm survival, firm profits, and firm employment. Likewise, Gimeno et al., (1997) also found that experience in related businesses had a positive effect on performance..3. Women Entrepreneurship: Opportunity Or Necessity? The motives behind female entrepreneurship are many and are classified as necessity (push factors) and opportunity (pull factors). It is reported by GEM (008) that generally, for both male and female it is more common to find individuals who are pulled into entrepreneurship rather than pushed into it. Pull factors are described as positive influences which encourage individuals to initiate their own businesses (Dollinger, 1999) and refer to factors such as need for independence, need for achievement, autonomy, self-development, social status, to be one s own boss and interest in the business (Sarri and Trihopoulou 005; Hansemark, 1998; Buttner and Moore, 1997). As regards push factors, they relate to those which make the existing option less attractive, for instance, poor family income, job insecurity, unemployment, and glass ceiling which includes blocked promotion, no career advancement prospects, job dissatisfaction (Mattis, 004; Brush 1999; Wickham, 001). However, there are contradicting views regarding whether women are pulled or pushed into entrepreneurship. In their studies on women entrepreneurs, Hisrich and Brush (1985) and Weeks (001) found that most women cited push factors such as frustration and boredom as their main motives to become entrepreneurs. In contrast, the findings in other research carried out mainly in European countries and the USA 37

4 show that pull factors are mostly cited by women as motives for starting entrepreneurial activities with independence, wanting to be one s own boss, flexibility and career advancement amongst others (McGregor, 004; Pereira, 001, Sarri and Trihopoulou, 005). Similarly, the 004 GEM reports that women choose entrepreneurial ventures because of pull factors more than push factors. It is to be highlighted that participating countries in the GEM are from both, developed and developing countries. The report however draws attention to the fact that women choosing entrepreneurship out of necessity are predominantly from lowincome countries, such as South Africa. This view is supported by Aurenius et al., (005) who claim that for women, entrepreneurship may represent an important means to avoid unemployment and in some countries as a means to come out of poverty. Other authors view that the motives for women entrepreneurship is not a clear cut. There are no extremes for either push or pull factors in deciding to become entrepreneurs and this is applicable to both developed and developing countries. This view is confirmed by studies on motivation on female entrepreneurship conducted in Turkey, France, South Africa, Greece amongst other (Hisrich and Ozturk, 1999; Orhan and Scott, 001; Verwey 005; Sarri and Trihopoulou, 005) Drawing from the above, it can be assumed that motivation of women entrepreneurs is not black and white. It is often a combination of opportunities and necessities, however, as the literature indicates the nature and importance of push and pull factors may differ from country to country and more specifically from low income and high income countries..4. Access to Finance Women entrepreneurship is characterized by several obstacles. Women entrepreneurs are considered to be vulnerable because compared to their male counterparts; they have limited support relying mainly on their spouse, family, women s associations whereas men are backed by professional acquaintances and business associates ((Hisrich and Peters, 1998). One of the major challenges cited by women entrepreneurs around the globe is access to finance. It is acknowledged in the literature that women use more internal sources of finance for starting up their businesses (Loscocco, 1991) that is, from their own savings and from loans from friends and relatives (Levent et al., 003; Hokkanen et al., 1998). In their investigation on female entrepreneurs involving six countries which included developed and developing nations, McClelland et al., (005) found that the majority of women used their personal savings first to finance the start-up of their businesses apart from the Singaporean entrepreneurs who contracted a bank loan. While Hisrich and Brush (1985) found that women entrepreneurs rely solely on their personal savings, in particular, for start up and working capital management, on their part Carter and Rosa (1995) state that they rarely apply for loans from banks. This may be due to the fact that women may not have the required collateral to obtain a bank s loan (Carter et al., 001) especially if they are starting their businesses out of necessity. Furthermore, as suggested by Shaw et al. (001), women entrepreneurs are less likely to have generated a credit track record to establish credit worthiness than male entrepreneurs. In other studies, women entrepreneurs report that when they apply for a loan from the bank they are often not taken seriously. According to Dollinger (1999), one of the reasons why women have difficulties in accessing loans is partly due to the discrimination they face. Some women report that their social position may not allow them to have the same financial network as men and therefore they cannot establish good relationships with banks and they face gender discrimination and stereotyping (Nasser, 009, p.7). 3. METHODOLOGY Research on entrepreneurship is now being conducted within an interpretive paradigm where qualitative approaches are increasingly being accepted and adopted (Kirkwood, 009; Perren and Ram, 004) particularly for women so as not to miss pertinent issues regarding their way of doing business as opposed to men. Qualitative research enables the researcher to control the way how the questions are asked (Kirkwood, 009), which Martin and Wright (005) qualifies as art of asking questions (p 164). Furthermore, Silverman (000) indicates that effectiveness in qualitative research is its ability to adopt a flexible approach for data collection. Similarly, this study adopts the qualitative approach because the cooperation of women entrepreneurs was important due to the sensitivity of revealing information pertaining to their personal circumstances, motivations, attitudes towards growth and difficulties faced. A further argument to justify a qualitative approach concerns the sample size. The sample consisted of 30 women entrepreneurs in Mauritius and according to Martin and Wright (005), qualitative research is appropriate for smaller samples. In-depth interviews were conducted over a three-month period with 30 women entrepreneurs who owned and managed their own businesses. For the purpose of this study an entrepreneur is defined as someone who is the founder of a business and employs at least one paid employee. This definition corresponds to the definition 38

5 suggested by Kirkwood (009) in her study on women entrepreneurs in New Zealand. All respondents were interviewed face-to face by the author at the convenience of the respondents. The duration of most of the interviews was approximately two hours. In some cases more than one visit was necessary. The purpose of the interviews was to draw a picture of the female entrepreneur in Mauritius by exploring the reasons for choosing entrepreneurship as a career path, their personal backgrounds and their sources of finance at the start-up phase of their businesses. As the sample size in this study is small no statistical analysis was performed. Instead, themes and comments were drawn from the interviews to meet the objectives of this study. 4. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 4.1. Personal profile of respondents 30 respondents participated in this study and a summary of the respondent s background is reported in Table 1 further below. The findings reveal that some of the personal characteristics of the Mauritian female entrepreneurs are similar to the characteristics of female entrepreneurs in most countries Age According to Nearchou-Ellinas and Kountouris (004), generally women undertake entrepreneurial activities not before their 30 s and the findings of the present study confirm that women entrepreneurs tend to be in their 40 s. To some extent, the age range is similar to the age range of women entrepreneurs in various other countries (Sarri and Trihopoulou 005; Woldie and Adersua, 004 ) although slightly older than the average age of women entrepreneurs in Turkey (Hisrich and Ozturk, 1999). What became apparent from the interviews was that women who started their businesses at an older age were mainly due to family commitments, boredom and work related problems. For instance responses were: I started my business at the age of 37, soon after my youngest child started college and was less dependent on me. I started my business at 4 after realising that I would probably never achieve what I wanted to in the firm I used to work for Marital Status Most of the respondents were married (n=3) and a sizable majority had children (n=17). It is interesting to note that nearly all entrepreneurs who were married with children were in the age range. This finding partly concurs with findings of some studies various other studies (Nasser et al., 009, McElwee and Al-Riyami, 003) implying that women entrepreneurs have no difficulty in conciliating their family responsibilities and their businesses. In fact, it is evident that for many women, running one s own business provides the flexibility of meeting family obligations as well as earning a salary. One interviewee expressed: I stopped working after the birth of my child. I started my own business as it provided me with the flexibility of looking after my baby and home while working from home. However, it is to be noted that studies conducted in developing countries such as Bangladesh, Ivory Coast and Ethiopia, amongst others, reveal that responsibility towards children is a factor that deter women from becoming entrepreneurs (Hossein et al., 009) Education It is noted that although all the respondents were educated, their education level was average. The majority (n=8) had completed at least O Levels which is equivalent to 11 year schooling. Only respondents have stopped their studies at primary level. University education is also low with only 4 graduates. The result on education level of entrepreneurs is surprising since education is free up to secondary level (13 year schooling) and to some extent up to university level. The University of Mauritius provides free education at undergraduate level. The results do not lend support to other studies. For instance, in Greece, the level of education is quite high where 4% of women entrepreneurs were university graduates (Sarri and Trihopoulou 005). These findings may imply that women with high level of education prefer the corporate world rather than running their own businesses. Does this suggest that those women having low to average level of education find it difficult to look for employment and therefore are pushed towards starting their own businesses? Further investigations might need to be carried out on this issue Business activities There is strong segmentation in the sector of business and the findings confirm previous findings in the literature that women entrepreneurs mostly operate in the services and retail sectors (Roomi and Harrison, 008). An 39

6 overwhelming number of women entrepreneurs, 8 out of 30, were involved in what is considered to be mainly feminine : food and beverages (n=10), textile (n=7), cosmetics and hairdressing (n=6), florists and ceramic and potteries and other services (n=5). Reasons that could explain the tendency of women to enter these sectors include ease of access, low capital requirement for start-up and low technical skills needed and prior knowledge in these sectors (Bruni et al., 004). I was working in a florist shop for about 5 years before opening my own flower shop I always enjoyed helping my mother and grandmother in the kitchen and I chose cookery as main subject for my A Levels. My parents and grandparents have been in the textile business and it was only natural that I would be in the same line of business. I was not really interested in studies and after I dropped out of school at 16, I trained as a hairdresser before opening my own salon The above findings suggest that most women entrepreneurs tend to choose sectors in which they are familiar with. However, this is not always the case. According to one respondent I never thought that I would be in this line of business as I knew nothing about woodwork apart fom the furniture at home. Table 1 illustrates the composition of the sample. Table 1 Demographic Profile of respondents Age < Marital Status Single Married with children Married without children Widowed with children Widowed without children Divorced Women (n=30) Education Primary Secondary O Levels Secondary A Levels Graduate Post graduate No. of years in operation < or equal to > Business activities Food and Beverages Wood products and furniture Textile Cosmetics and hairdressing Florists Ceramic and potteries Other services

7 4.. Motivation for becoming an entrepreneur The findings suggest that for women, the motives for becoming an entrepreneur is not a clear cut situation but is rather a complex set of mixture of opportunities and necessities. When queried regarding the reasons for starting a business, most respondents mentioned both pull and push factors at the same time. As expressed by one interviewee, flexibility (opportunity) and earning a living (necessity) were main reasons: I was a teacher at a pre-pimary school for 3 years and I thoroughly enjoyed my work. I was always being called upon to do the decorations whenever there was a party or special event at the school. Unfortunately, due to health problems I had to quit my job as it was too demanding on my health. I remained inactive for more than a year before deciding that I should go back to work if I did not want to get depressed. I needed a job which provided flexibility so as to take care of my family and of my health. Another respondent mentioned that her motivating factors were passion (opportunity) and contribution to household revenue (necessity): Since childhood I ve always had a passion for flowers and flower arrangements. In fact in weddings and parties of family and friends, I was the one who did most of the flower arrangements as I really enjoyed doing it and was doing it for free. I knew a few florists and admired their work but had never thought of myself as one. This business has enabled me to do something enjoyable, to be independent and also to bring in more money in my household. This statement leads to believe that women often choose entrepreneurship not only because they expect the idea to have greater return. Earlier studies have found challenge to be an important motivator for women entrepreneurs (Scott, 1986) and this factor is mirrored in this study. One of the entrepreneurs stated choosing entrepreneurship because of challenge, independence (opportunity) and frustration at work (necessity) I have been working in a parastatal organization for about 15 years and I was on the list to be promoted, something I was looking forward to for long while. But I got tired of waiting and seeing younger colleagues being promoted, especially men. I was very frustrated and my work was not so challenging anymore and besides I had little autonomy. I used to vent my anger at home. I realized that I was not being fair to my family or to me and it was then that I decided that I should start something of my own and knew that I could do it. It is true that I do not have much time to myself as I had before but I am much happier and I am now my own boss. One of the most prevalent pull factors frequently discussed by many women was independence which lends support to other studies (Kirkwood, 009). Two respondents stated Of course I needed to work but what was important to me was to be in control and to be independent and the only way that it could happen was to run my own business. I come from a wealthy enough family and normally the women in my family were not expected to work. However, I wanted to do be financially independent and after pursuing higher studies in France I decided to open my own travel agency. These testimonies prove that women entrepreneurs are pulled and pushed all at the same time, into starting entrepreneurial ventures. However, a small minority of women entrepreneurs (n=4) stressed on push factors as main motivators. One of them revealed limited choice and making a living as main factors. My daughter was just 5 years old when my husband, who was the only income earner, passed away. Although my parents were supportive, I could not depend on them financially forever. I started working in a textile factory as machinist for about 10 months but I quit because I had to work very long hours several times a week which meant that I hardly saw my daughter as she was already asleep when I got home. This is why I started my pickle making business. At least five respondents mentioned only work-related problems as the most important factor for starting up a business as testified below. These women were previously employed in the EPZ (Export Processing Zone) and were made redundant after the firms closed down or were downsizing because of financial constraints. Some of these women entrepreneurs had the following comments: Actually I did not have much choice since the factory where I used to work closed down The textile factory I was working in made a lot of women redundant, especially those who joined work later than others and I was one among them having worked there for 6 years. Since I had a low level of education it was hard for me to get a job with a decent pay. In a sense, running my own business was my only option. I spent 15 years working as machinist then as a supervisor in a manufacturing company. Eventually it closed down because of financial difficulties. I got another offer from another factory but declined as I thought that my job would not be secure seeing the number of factories closing down in the EPZ. Starting my own business seemed a good choice as it also enabled me to be more independent. I changed jobs 3 times before landing a fourth one. During the 8 years I have been there, I have worked for five different management teams. In the end I got tired to adapting to the ever changing management styles 331

8 as I was landing in arguments too often with my superiors. It was my husband who suggested that I start my own business and this is what I did. Now I do things my way. The above excerpts sum up the general motives for women entrepreneurship and reveal that in general women choose entrepreneurship because of multiple factors. Further, it is interesting to note that most of the women in the sample identified a combination of both pull and push factors with only a minority mentioning either only push or pull factors. Overall the types of motivation of the respondents are quite similar to women entrepreneurs in other countries and therefore support previous studies conducted in both developed and developing countries (Kirkwood, 009; Hisrich and Ozturk, 1999) although the importance of each factors may be different. Furthermore, the more prominent motivational factors among women entrepreneurs seem to be independence and work related problems. However, there is no strong evidence to show that Mauritian women choose entrepreneurship because of lack of paid employment as is the case in some developing countries. 4.3 Access to finance Women face numerous challenges at start-up phase and one of the most important obstacles is start-up capital (Brush, 199). The entrepreneurs in the sample were questioned on their sources of finance at the start-up phase. In line with the study of Brush (199), this study reveals that an overwhelming majority of the women relied on their own savings in the start-up process. The respondents showed consensus regarding the main reason for this reliance (or over-reliance) on personal savings as being the difficulty in obtaining a loan from financial institutions. Some women related their experiences for loan applications in the following statements: Two years before starting my business I went to a few banks to find out about the possibility of getting a small loan to start my business and each time I was told that since I had no collaterals it was difficult for them to approve my request. I decided that if I wanted to start it would be best to use my own savings and borrow from my family My request for a loan was rejected twice and I felt that it was because I am a woman with little qualifications it would be worthless trying again and so I opened my jam making business by using personal funds and also got support of my husband and parents. Actually I do not know whether I can say that I started with a loan or not since I got a loan not on my name but on that of my husband s. I was refused a loan on the grounds that I had no collaterals on my name. Initially, I did not apply for a loan because my business did not need much investment as I was working from home and did not require much infrastructure or expensive equipment. So I used my own savings. I was told that since I was not working, my request for a loan would not be approved I think the bank did not trust me because I am a woman. The officers there asked me why I chose a business which normally are male oriented. I did not apply for a bank loan but preferred to borrow from my father so as not to pay any interests. From the views above, it is observed that women fund their start-up phase by relying on personal savings mainly and supplementing it with financial help from friends and relatives. This point is acknowledged by Carter et al., (001) who noted that it is difficult for women entrepreneurs to raise the start-up capital since they do not have the required wealth or network. Another factor which has been highlighted as a hindrance for accessing loans is that of not being taken as seriously as men, and this same point has been highlighted by Buttner and Rosen, (1988) who found that bank staff viewed women as less entrepreneurial than men. Unfortunately, due to the nature of this study, it is not possible to make a comparison with men or to have the views of bankers to assess whether women are discriminated against with regards to access of loans. A further point that emerged from discussions with a few of the women is that they started their respective businesses in the sectors they are presently operating in partly due to the refusal of bank loans. This may suggest that funding may have an impact on the choice of sector of activities and also explain to some extent why many women entrepreneurs operate in sectors where investments are low and are predominantly in the services sector. A minority of the women entrepreneurs were successful in getting a bank loan. It is to be noted that these women were married and were granted a loan subject to the signatures of their spouse as they were co-owners of personal assets. 4. CONCLUSIONS AND DIRECTIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH In general, there is no apparent evidence that our women entrepreneurs are totally different from those in developed countries. Considering the contribution of women entrepreneurs to the Mauritian economy, it is important to encourage more women to start their own businesses. For this to happen it is necessary to understand some important factors regarding women entrepreneurs. This study has considered three main issues. 33

9 Firstly, it is found that the typical woman entrepreneur tends to be in her late 30 s and is married often with children. She generally has an average level of education and operates mainly in the services sector. Secondly, it seems apparent that women are motivated by a mix of factors consisting of necessities and opportunities all at the same time. It is also seen that the need for independence and work-related issues are important motives behind women entrepreneurship. Thirdly, women entrepreneurs rely mainly on their personal savings and financial support from friends and relatives, to help them start their business activities. Problems encountered in securing a bank loan are often due to not having the necessary collaterals. This is one of the reasons explaining why women entrepreneurs in Mauritius prefer operating in sectors which require less capital investment, therefore, their dominance in the services sector. The findings of this study can assist policy makers in designing support programmes targeting women entrepreneurs especially in the start-up phase of their business as they face problems in obtaining finance which may have a direct impact on the types of business they operate in. It will also enable appropriate measures to be taken to enhance and sustain the entrepreneurial spirit amongst women in the country. It should however be noted that this study is not without its limitations. The sample size was limited to 30 women entrepreneurs and therefore it will not be appropriate to make generalizations. Besides, there may be other factors such as culture, previous experience, the role of the family and personality traits amongst others that may impact on female entrepreneurship. While this study sheds light on some important issues regarding women entrepreneurship in a developing country, it also provides some directions for further investigations in terms of whether there is a relationship between the level of education and entrepreneurship, how women entrepreneurs finance the growth of their businesses and whether lack of finance is the root cause for their predominance in sectors requiring low investment. Additionally, an investigation can be made to compare women and men entrepreneurs on the factors discussed in this study to understand how different women are from men entrepreneurs. REFERENCES Allen, I.E., Elam, A., Langowitz, N., Dean, M. (008), GEM 007 Report on Women and Entrepreneurship, Babson College, Babson Park, MA,. Aurenius, P., Minnity, M. and Langowitz, N. (005). Global Entrepreneurship Monitor: 004 Report on Women and Entrepreneurship. London: London Business School. Bosma, N. M., van Praag, R., Thurik, R., & de Wit, G. (004). 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