A new report finds that countries are not meeting the most fundamental conditions required for female entrepreneurs to prosper.<\/p>\n
The second annual Gender-Global Entrepreneurship and Development Index (GEDI) 2014, commissioned by Dell, ranked South Africa 11th out of 30 countries surveyed – in a 2nd tier of ‘moderate performers’.<\/p>\n
South Africa ranked 9th in the original survey, with a score of 43 out of 100, although the original index only contained 17 countries. In 2014, the country’s score was at 42 out of 100.<\/p>\n
The highest performing countries in the 2014 Gender-GEDI rankings are all OECD member countries with highly developed economies, and for the second year in a row, the US (83) and Australia (80) came out on top, followed by Sweden (73), France and Germany (tied at 67).<\/p>\n
#<\/strong><\/td>\n| Country<\/strong><\/td>\n | Score<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 1<\/td>\n | United States<\/td>\n | 83<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 2<\/td>\n | Australia<\/td>\n | 80<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 3<\/td>\n | Sweden<\/td>\n | 73<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 4<\/td>\n | France<\/td>\n | 67<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 4<\/td>\n | Germany<\/td>\n | 67<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 6<\/td>\n | Chile<\/td>\n | 55<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 7<\/td>\n | United Kingdom<\/td>\n | 54<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 8<\/td>\n | Poland<\/td>\n | 51<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 9<\/td>\n | Spain<\/td>\n | 49<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 10<\/td>\n | Mexico<\/td>\n | 43<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 11<\/strong><\/td>\n | South Africa<\/strong><\/td>\n | 42<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 11<\/td>\n | South Korea<\/td>\n | 42<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 11<\/td>\n | China<\/td>\n | 42<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 14<\/td>\n | Peru<\/td>\n | 40<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 14<\/td>\n | Japan<\/td>\n | 40<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 16<\/td>\n | Panama<\/td>\n | 39<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 17<\/td>\n | Thailand<\/td>\n | 38<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 18<\/td>\n | Turkey<\/td>\n | 36<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 18<\/td>\n | Russia<\/td>\n | 36<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 20<\/td>\n | Brazil<\/td>\n | 35<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 21<\/td>\n | Malaysia<\/td>\n | 32<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 22<\/td>\n | Jamaica<\/td>\n | 30<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 23<\/td>\n | Nigeria<\/td>\n | 29<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 24<\/td>\n | Morocco<\/td>\n | 27<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 24<\/td>\n | Ghana<\/td>\n | 27<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 26<\/td>\n | India<\/td>\n | 26<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 27<\/td>\n | Uganda<\/td>\n | 19<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 27<\/td>\n | Egypt<\/td>\n | 19<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 29<\/td>\n | Bangladesh<\/td>\n | 17<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n | 30<\/td>\n | Pakistan<\/td>\n | 11<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table><\/div>\n | 2nd tier countries<\/strong><\/p>\n The fourteen countries in this category included both OECD countries and emerging economies predominantly in Latin America and East Asia but also in Eurasia and Africa.<\/p>\n “The main strength seen in these countries is their balanced results: this tier performs moderately well across most pillars, rather than exceptionally well in just a few areas. In most cases, there is a reasonably good business environment and fairly good access to resources,” the report said.<\/p>\n It noted that these countries also tend to do well in terms of women\u2019s willingness to take the risk of starting a business and are not deterred by failure.<\/p>\n “They do reasonably well for access to finance and female startup activity rates. A noticeable weakness is the lower level of female leadership.”<\/p>\n Other weak areas tend to be the same as for top performers: low levels of tech start-ups and low levels of growth oriented female entrepreneurs, the report said.<\/p>\n In order to improve, countries in the second tier would need to:<\/p>\n Africa<\/strong><\/p>\n The highest ranking country in the Africa region is South Africa, with Nigeria, Ghana and Uganda also featuring.<\/p>\n The Africa region is characterized by a high level of female entrepreneurial drive, particularly in the case of Opportunity Perception, with an average of 69% of the female The female start-up activity rate is also high at 8.6 female start-ups for every 10 male start-ups. Ghana, as an example, has more female start-ups than male at a rate of 121 to 100.<\/p>\n Also, the Africa region has on average good female representation in leadership: 39% of managers and senior officials are female, the report noted.<\/p>\n Overall, in 83% of the sample countries, female managers make up less than 40% of total managers. Only five countries have 40% or more female managers. Jamaica leads with the highest percentage of female managers (59%), followed by Ghana, Panama, the United States and Nigeria.<\/p>\n South Africa is ranked 15th, at a fraction over 30%.<\/p>\n In addition, for four countries, the percentage of women in management is 10% or less: For countries in Africa, the report said: “The region\u2019s weaknesses are mainly related to low educational attainment amongst women in general and female entrepreneurs in particular.”.<\/p>\n Of the African countries surveyed, only 46% of the adult female population has completed secondary education and only 13% of female business owners have a college education. Also, there is little availability of equity finance.<\/p>\n The report said that access to a formal bank account is critical for high potential female entrepreneurs, especially since it is a necessary precursor to financing bank loans, credit lines that fuels business growth.<\/p>\n However, in 14 of the 30 countries included in the Index, 50% or more of the female population is unbanked.<\/p>\n For South Africa, 51% of women have access to a bank account at a formal institution, the report said.<\/p>\n South Africa\u2019s massive wage gap<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n South Africa\u2019s most influential person<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n |