Entrepreneurs who need funding often turn to the venture capital industry. In Sweden, women entrepreneurs represent a third of the total number of entrepreneurs. Meanwhile, women-owned businesses only raise one percent of the total venture capital in Sweden. Previous research has attempted to explain why male entrepreneurs raise more venture capital than women entrepreneurs, however, more research is needed to understand the circumstances for success. This leads to the study’s aim which is to create an understanding of what makes women entrepreneurs successful when raising venture capital, and how they do it, and the research questions, which are How do drivers enable women entrepreneurs to raise venture capital? How do women entrepreneurs overcome the different challenges that they meet when raising venture capital? To reach the study’s aim and answer the research questions a qualitative method was used. Semi-structured interviews with ten respondents, who were women entrepreneurs who had raised venture capital, were conducted. This study contributes new perspectives to the already existing field of entrepreneurship and venture capital, by providing a new framework showing how women entrepreneurs overcome challenges and use drivers for raising venture capital successfully. The results show how the respondents use their entrepreneurial, risk-prone, and highly self-confident personality in their relationship with investors and other entrepreneurs, to successfully raise venture capital. The findings in this study suggest that governmental agencies should provide more network possibilities with venture capitalist firms and investors for women entrepreneurs.

The evolvement of a knowledge-based economy and the internet has changed the pattern of occupation, shortening the career life cycle of various professions. For many people wanting to realize their dreams and continue their careers, the choice is to start their own enterprise. Women have been restricted for a long time owing to the binding traditional roles, expectations and the differing sexual values in society. When choosing an occupation, women were faced with more difficult considerations than men. Hence, recently both academics and industrialists have attached importance to the discussion of women entrepreneurs in Taiwan. According to statistics from various countries, one-person business, a part of micro-business, is proportionally high in each nation. This could be seen as a common commercial pattern as well as an entrepreneurial model and also as an individual¡¦s choice of lifestyle. Many of these self-employed businesses, ¡¥non-companies¡¦, are in existence because they don¡¦t have complex organizational regulations and working procedures. They are seen in society as a matter of course and are often ignored. The numbers of one-person businesses and the SOHO population have increased due to the knowledge-based economy and the internet. Many people choose self-employment as a means to gain freedom, flexibility and independence. One-person business can be regarded as the easiest type out of all business to set up. There are many reasons why women pursue one-person business as a career. This study is based on in-depth interviews which explore the reasons of contentment and motivation behind women entrepreneurs. It also sums up an evaluation of women prior to their own business and to understand women¡¦s ability to carry out business development opportunities. Finally, it concludes with an optimum model proposal for women¡¦s one-person business.

This master thesis discusses the possibilities of education of women managers/entrepreneurs. The aim of the thesis is to identify the form of an educational project suitable for the development of women entrepreneurs. As a result, I analyze not only the skills typical for successful managers, but also the features of managerial development and education and factors influencing the development and education of women entrepreneurs. Then I am trying to outline suitable methods for development of women entrepreneurs, with a special focus on women only training programs. In order to analyze the educational program better, I also focus on the design and evaluation of an educational activity. In the practical part of the thesis, I analyze the effectiveness of the PROFI ŽENA I. project and of the training course Managerial Skills and Team Building, and I am trying to identify the educational preferences of women entrepreneurs. Although, according to the survey, the concept of two-day courses seems to be insufficient for gaining new skills and knowledge, the project appears to be very beneficial for the participants, especially in terms of gaining new contacts, experience, self- affirmation and raising self-confidence. A good way to increase the effectiveness of the course would be some form of a follow-up...

MCom (Business Management) / Department of Business Management / South African economic policies (for example, the National Development Plan [NDP] and Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment Act [BBBEE]) place high emphasis on promoting entrepreneurial activities. In particular, these policies seek to provide for interventions that minimise challenges faced by entrepreneurs. In spite of this there is a segment of entrepreneurs that continues to experience numerous challenges – women entrepreneurs. The purpose of this study was to analyse the challenges faced by rural-women entrepreneurs. Rural women entrepreneurs in particular face challenges or barriers, which can be categorised under entrepreneurial, socio-cultural, personal, and technical barriers. The notion of gender socialisation can be used as one of several explanations as to why males and females behave differently. This kind of socialisation is also thought to be at the root of gender stereotyping, including chauvinism. This kind of socialisation has been said to influence the degree to which women face entrepreneurial challenges in rural areas. To address this research problem, which focuses on social perceptions, the critical realism paradigm was used. The research methodology used was a quantitative one, with the sample size 151 participants. Snowballing was utilised to locate participants with the desired characteristics. Self-completing questionnaires adapted from previous studies were utilised to gather data. The collected data was analysed using IBM-SPSS. Various descriptive and multivariate statistical tests, including ANOVA, cluster analysis, and factor analysis were used to analyse the data. The data collected indicated that women entrepreneurs with higher levels of gender socialisation (‘strongly believe’) are affected by entrepreneurial challenges more than those with low levels of gender socialisation. The results also indicated that education plays a key role in changing women’s’ attitudes towards their gendered roles and how they are socialised from a young age through to adult status. The researcher recommended equal opportunities for both males and females with regard to access to state resources such as education and finance, and access to information about businesses. / NRF

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