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

cent of women able to name credit and finance agencies. One third of the women were
aware of training providers, and 25 per cent were aware of those supplying business
information services. This profile mirrors to some extent the women entrepreneurs’ actual
use of business support. The majority (70 per cent) of the women entrepreneurs had
received no external support in starting their businesses. Of those receiving support (34
women), most (21 or 62 per cent) had received financial support from MFIs, and some (11
or 32 per cent) received technical support from a range of NGOs and government agencies.
Whilst the MFIs were seen to have provided satisfactory services for start-up, those
women running small enterprises felt that the MFI loans were too small and delivered
inappropriately (in groups) for women wanting to grow their business. The same theme
applied to training providers who were seen to focus on general start-up courses for
microenterprises, rather than more specialized topics designed for growing small
enterprises. One exception was a recent ILO initiative providing assistance to women
entrepreneurs to be more effective at trade exhibitions, which was mentioned and viewed
as having been very helpful (see Barney-Gonzales, 2002).
In Zambia, less than one third of the women entrepreneurs had received support from
some form of external business support service, and yet 90 per cent said that they felt in
need of further support for their business. The majority of those who had not received
support did not know where to go for help. Some had tried to get help and been
unsuccessful, and others were put off seeking assistance after hearing of the negative
experiences of others – especially with regard to the lending conditions of the financial
institutions. Those who had received support did so as follows: 25 per cent had received
small business training support from a BDS provider; 21 per cent had received financial
support from an MFI; 5 per cent had received business advice and counselling from an
NGO, and 1 woman had been supported to attend a trade fair.
Most of the women entrepreneurs in Zambia felt that they needed support with their
business as indicated by Table 17.
Table 17: Current needs of the women entrepreneurs in Zambia
Identified needs (multiple responses)
Frequency
Financial support (loans and associated training/advice on how to service a loan) 90
Training/knowledge/skills 30
Tools, equipment, machinery 18
Business advice, information, counselling 16
Marketing support 9
Business premises 4
Technical support 3
Transport 3
Networking 1
Internet services 1
Total 175
Source: ILO, 2003 c.
Comments from those who had received support were on the whole supportive,
although some comments indicated the need for more appropriate loan sizes for small
businesses, as well as the need for training that is not exclusively linked to loans.
In Tanzania the women entrepreneurs appeared to be aware of and have accessed a
wide range of business support services. In addition, the women’s record of accessing
loans from formal institutions had improved from their start-up experiences. A total of 40
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