Financing of Women-Owned Ventures: The Impact of Gender and Other Owner- and Firm-Related Variables

in Venture Capital (2006), 8(2), 133-157

While women-owned ventures represent an increasing proportion of new businesses in most western countries, most of them have particular financing patterns and encounter barriers in their access to ... [more ▼]

While women-owned ventures represent an increasing proportion of new businesses in most western countries, most of them have particular financing patterns and encounter barriers in their access to financing. Recent research on the question argues that barriers to financing are mainly dependent on factors other than gender, such as owner- and firm-related characteristics. This quantitative and qualitative study, through descriptive statistics and interview analysis, examines the relationship between financing patterns and barriers and gender from the woman entrepreneur’s viewpoint. It explores the behaviours and representations of women entrepreneurs towards financing, and considers to what extent the women see their own approaches as being different from those of men. Our study suggests that a gender effect still exists, and tries to identify its location and the corresponding implications for further research and action. [less ▲]

Les femmes entrepreneures et la transmission d’entreprise

Conference (2006, March)

Female entrepreneurs and financing

Conference (2004, November)

Our paper presents some results from a research on women's entrepreneurship in Belgium, which is part of a wider project called “Diane”, which took place within the framework of an equal opportunity ... [more ▼]

Our paper presents some results from a research on women's entrepreneurship in Belgium, which is part of a wider project called “Diane”, which took place within the framework of an equal opportunity action. We choose to expose one of the most interesting aspects of this research on women’s entrepreneurship : financing. The main question of our research was to enquire whether there are any specificities in the women’s entrepreneurship in Belgium as regards the financing of their firms. First, we investigated the amounts that female entrepreneurs invested for the start-up and development of their firms. Second, we aimed to determine which financing sources were used by female entrepreneurs. Finally, we enquired whether they had access to external financing, and more specifically to bank loans. Our results show that female entrepreneurs have mainly recourse to their personal savings or to family and friends’ loans to finance the company start-up and development. But they use also bank loans in a great extent for their firm launching. Nevertheless, it seems that they apply for bank loans only if they have no other choice, due to their strong risk-aversion and their lack of trust toward bankers. These reasons also lead them to invest lower amounts in the start-up and development of their companies. Female entrepreneurs face a lot of barriers to bank financing. There are several specific financing problems for female entrepreneurs, related to some of their firm’s characteristics, especially the field of activity and the size. Some gender characteristics can also be barriers to financing. On the basis of our results, we draw some recommendations for public authorities. [less ▲]

Diane Project: Women’s Entrepreneurship

Conference (2003, June 16)