The Challenges of Growing Small Businesses - International Labour ...

the three WED Study countries ranged from those who had never been to school (16 or 4.3
per cent of all the women) to those with postgraduate qualifications. However the majority
had completed their secondary school education. Of those who reported they had had no
formal education, the majority (11 of the 16) were from Ethiopia. Interestingly, in all three
countries the women entrepreneurs interviewed seemed to have an above average level of
education when compared to their contemporaries. For example, in 1997 a Government
survey of informal sector women entrepreneurs in Ethiopia showed that 59 per cent were
illiterate and yet over 90 per cent of the Ethiopian women entrepreneurs interviewed in the
WED Study had had formal education, with 66 per cent having completed secondary
education. Similar educational profiles were reported in Zambia and Tanzania (ILO,
2003b & c).
In Tanzania the research also examined the educational profile of the women’s family
and this showed that many of the women came from families where their spouses were
similarly well-educated (over 85 per cent of spouses had at least secondary education),
although their parents tended to have had only primary education and below.
In summary, the overall educational profile of the women interviewed is quite
different from that normally portrayed for women entrepreneurs in African countries, and
it is also above average for women in general in each of the three study countries. To a
certain extent, this is not surprising given the tendency of past research to focus on women
in the informal sector, and the fact that this WED Study’s focus was on women in formal
businesses. Nevertheless, the differences are substantial. These findings compare well
with another ILO research project that also looked at women in formal enterprises in
Pakistan (Goheer, 2003). It is likely that better education for women brings with it greater
opportunities to further develop their human assets, such as skills, experience, health and
general well being, which in turn enable the women as entrepreneurs to access other assets
more easily.
4.1.3 Work experience
When looking at what the women entrepreneurs had been doing immediately prior to
being in business, the survey findings revealed that the majority (62 per cent) had previous
work experience, including a significant minority who had either worked in a family
business or had had their own business.
In Tanzania, 73 per cent (94) of the women had previously been employed, and of
this group some 25 (or 27 per cent) had had their own business. Also, many of the women
had family members who were in business – 27 per cent had spouses, 27 per cent had
fathers, and 18 per cent had mothers who were entrepreneurs. In Zambia, 67 per cent (79)
of the women had been in employment prior to starting their business, with 19 (24 per
cent) of these stating they had been self-employed. In Ethiopia, 46 per cent (57) had been
employed immediately prior to starting their business, with 19 (41 per cent) of these being
in “another” business. Interestingly in Ethiopia, when the women were asked whether they
had any work experience of relevance to their current business, 64 (52 per cent) said that
they did. Of these 64 women, 36 per cent had gained this from having their own business,
and a further 41 per cent from working in their family’s business.
For all three countries a total of 18 per cent of all the women interviewed had
previously been in business or self-employed, and a further 11 per cent had worked in
other MSEs or their family’s business.
In essence, many of the women were bringing a substantial amount of human and
social assets to the development of their own business in the form of business know-how.
The experience of operating and networking within a formal workplace and business
environment had perhaps helped in further developing their relevant “know who” and
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