Female entrepreneurship breaks down the barriers on work-life balance

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On the one hand, digital entrepreneurship has been the main driver of value creation in the economy in recent decades: it contributes to the dissemination of scientific progress, the enhancement of technological innovation, the relaunch of the entrepreneurial fabric and the promotion of employment. In addition, it is responsible for 40% to 70% of a country’s economic growth, says the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

On the other hand, however, according to startup accelerator Lanzadera, women are traditionally engaged in less technologically intense sectors or in sectors that require a lower initial investment, such as services or fashion. According to UNESCO data, this is because less than 30% of the world’s scientific researchers are women.

Women have traditionally been involved in less technologically intensive sectors or in sectors that require a lower initial investment, such as services or fashion

Ryan Newton points out that there is also a digital skills problem: “In the fintech world, solutions go to people who already have bank accounts, who already feel comfortable with apps,” he says. However, he goes on to explain that “although about 70% of the population in Mexico own a smartphone, only 4% claim to have used it for financial services”. As for women, the expert notes that they often have fewer digital skills and are more wary of digital services.

The report “Entrepreneurship with a Gender Perspective” states that, in order to reduce this gap, attention must be paid to overcoming stereotypes, the commitment to work-life balance, the implementation of new business models and to the increase in the visibility of female entrepreneurs.

Prudent savers, but with financing problems

A priority is to ensure that women have access to tools that promote business creation and longevity, such as strengthening a network of contacts, enhancing mentoring networks and, in particular, sources of funding. For example, when women take out loans they tend to receive less capital and pay higher interest rates, despite providing more collateral than men.

In fact, a business school study at the Central American Institute of Business Administration (INCAE) showed that while most businessmen said they closed their business due to low profitability, business women they claimed that the cause of the failure of their business was the difficulty of obtaining financing. “If a financial product has certain requirements that, by default, a woman does not have, such as ownership of the property, then she will be excluded from that loan,” explains Newton.

For her part, Valenzuela, who also discussed these factors at the BBVA Open Innovation Women Talks event, explains why women sometimes lack the assets that can serve as collateral for funding: “In humble areas of Mexico, such as Oaxaca, notaries recommend that you leave your inheritance only to male family members, because the daughters will eventually marry and share the husband’s property. “

“It’s not that women are risk averse, we measure it better”

However, the 2019 Women’s Entrepreneurship Report indicates that companies with leading women work with more consistent business plans. “It is not that women are averse to risk, we measure it better; we are more inclined to save money and to have our feet more firmly on the ground,” says Valenzuela. He also adds that, during the economic crisis caused by the pandemic, BBVA found that it was not women who were not paying their debts.

Design with everyone in mind

The financial institution celebrates the Diversity Days, a conference that highlights the projects recently implemented in this sector and that draws a roadmap with the challenges and objectives to convert diversity into the Group’s DNA and as a key objective for the future.

There are more homework for the to-do list to achieve equality in entrepreneurship: listen to everyone and think of everyone. This is why BBVA’s director of strategy points out that it is necessary for financial entities to root out hierarchical policies. “In order to be able to design products according to every need you have to allow and teach your organization to listen to the underlying ones, so that the ideas pass.” Ryan Newton adds that every situation should be taken into consideration: “It is not just a question of identifying inadequacies in the offer to women, but of identifying them in any disadvantaged or vulnerable segment.”

Education, for its part, has an outstanding theme: promoting business culture in women to redefine the profile of female entrepreneurs. In addition, financial institutions need to take a gender-sensitive approach where the needs of all niches are considered in the design of products and services, so that they can form the foundation for new businesses.

Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially those related to equality, requires innovative solutions that help break down trends and stereotypes, so that no woman is left behind. As reporter and presenter Diane Sawyer puts it, “Whatever you want in life, other people will want it too. Believe in yourself enough to accept the idea that you have the same right to it.”

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