Women's Entrepreneurship Index: businesswomen view the business environment with caution

Women entrepreneurs in our country have a moderately favorable perception of the local business environment, a perception reflected in the 58 points out of 100, according to the first Women's Entrepreneurship Index in Romania, launched yesterday, at Victoria Palace, by PEFA (European Women's Business Owners' Association).

At the opening of the event, Andreea Negru, President of PEFA, stated: "This is a unique moment in Romania, to launch an index that shows the role, importance and especially the contribution of women in the economy, in various sectors of activity. In the current macroeconomic context, women represent over 38% of entrepreneurs in Romania, 47% of companies in our country with a turnover of over 10,000 lei have at least one woman as a shareholder, 25% of active companies are owned exclusively by women, who mainly run small and medium-sized businesses, predominantly in trade and services, health, education and creative industries. An interesting aspect is the fact that the net profit rate of companies run exclusively by women amounts to 15%, higher than the profit recorded by the average of companies run by men, which is 8.3%. (...) Women look with optimism at what is happening in the Romanian economy and see a slightly better future. 60% of business women are optimistic, 35% are very optimistic, and 5% are neutral about the future of the business environment. This also explains the percentage of 45% of women who stated that their opinion about the current business environment is neutral, neither good nor bad, while 35% claim that the business environment is somewhat favorable".

The PEFA President also said that in the current macroeconomic conditions, one of the specific challenges in female entrepreneurship is balancing professional and family obligations (41% of women entrepreneurs noted this), followed by gender prejudices or stereotypes (25%) and lack of confidence or fear of failure (13%). Among the factors that limit the advancement of women in the business environment in our country are pressures to balance work and family (35% of women entrepreneurs), followed by insufficient government and institutional support (26%) and social attitudes or gender stereotypes (26%).

In a video message sent from Brussels, Roxana Mînzatu, Vice-President of the European Commission, said: "Female entrepreneurship is more than a niche topic, and we have often discussed the importance of women's involvement in entrepreneurship. However, we know that we are talking about a huge resource that is not sufficiently exploited for Europe to become stronger, fairer, more sustainable, not just more efficient. Unfortunately, in the European Union only 6% of women have started a business from scratch in recent years, a percentage that is very low. It is a warning signal about ideas that fail to be born, solutions that do not take shape and projects that are not realized simply because women do not have enough support, do not have enough funding, perhaps do not have enough mentoring and above all perhaps do not have enough confidence in themselves, in their entrepreneurial potential. That is why, at European level, we also want to finance female entrepreneurship, through Invest EU, through Erasmus+, through support for the social economy, through The European Social Fund+ which supports entrepreneurial initiatives, which benefit many women. Moreover, this year's edition of Start-up Nation in our country is financed with hundreds of millions of euros from the European Social Fund+".

Present at the event at Victoria Palace, Anca Dragu, governor of the National Bank of Moldova, stated: "The figures regarding female entrepreneurship look encouraging, but it is clear that we still have work to do. The first part is to become aware of a need and then we can easily reach it. This index will cross the Prut River and we hope to organize a similar event in Chisinau in the fall. There is a strong female business community in Chisinau, which is also working on such an index. We have quite a lot to do, and one of the goals of sustainable development is gender equality, which everyone follows carefully, sometimes with concern. From the results of the study, we saw some elements of what holds back the decision to become an entrepreneur in the female environment. Yes, this balance between personal and professional life is a very strong element. (...) Access to financing also matters a lot, it is another problem, but here there are many projects of international financial institutions that support female entrepreneurship projects through credit lines. We are optimistic and believe that every woman who has an important role in an institution has a duty to support her colleagues so that their professional achievements are at their maximum level."

The Head of the Department of Sustainable Development, State Counselor Laszlo Borbely, stated that this index is an important first step in the review of the sustainable development strategy, a review that will include several indicators on entrepreneurship and equal opportunities. Regarding gender equality, he mentioned that at the level of the General Secretariat of the Government, 53% of executive positions are occupied by women, while 70% of SGG employees are women.

Laszlo Borbely also said: "It is very important to measure indicators against what is around, but this must also appear in government strategies that are subsequently implemented. And some things need to be deepened. For example, we have 37% women in entrepreneurship in our country, while the European average is 34%, but probably in our case it is more about micro-enterprises. In terms of executive positions, we are not doing too well with only 21% women, compared to the EU average of 35%.

In turn, the social-democrat senator Florin Jianu, former president of the National Council of Small and Medium-sized Private Enterprises in Romania, stated: "This index of female entrepreneurship adds to a constellation of research and analysis that IMM Romania carries out as we have learned from the general public. Representatives of a serious organization always come out with data and analysis, not personal opinions or views presented in the public space. I noticed in this index that the balance between professional and personal life is mentioned twice, unlike male entrepreneurs who would mention issues of inflation, economic issues, such as, for example, the decrease in sales, as current challenges. In fact, this is what women bring to the economy: balance. We are talking about a female entrepreneurship that declares itself "somewhat optimistic". I really like this phrase. This moderate optimism also shows a kind of balance".

We also point out that the conclusions of the Women's Entrepreneurship Index show that there is a need in this area for public policies to support women in business, dedicated funding and mentoring programs for start-ups founded by women, as well as for the promotion of successful female models and the integration of female leadership into the national economic culture.