Status and business environment of women entrepreneurs in the Philippines

In general, this study attempted to provide an understanding of the business challenges and experiences faced by female entrepreneurs which in turn provided insights that could stimulate discussions and guide the future development of programs to help enhance women's success as entrepreneurs. The study involved the collection of primary data using a 15-page questionaire from 42 women business owners in Metro Manila, Southern Tagalog, the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR), Cagayan Valley, Western Visayas, Central Visayas, Eastern Visayas, Western Mindanao, Southern Mindanao and the CARAGA region [Philippines]. Personal profile of the respondents were discussed. As for the profile of their enterprises, most of the businesses were processing/manufacturing enterprises and retailing and predominantly handicraft and processed food products-traditionally "female" businesses. Most of the women's businesses were also sole proprietorships, informally organized enterprises and were cottage-to-small-scale enterprises despite their having an average length of existence of 14.3 years. Majority of the businesses were not exporting their products directly or indirectly but were marketing their products outside of their provinces/cities/town. Lastly, in terms of ICT equipment, majority of the businesses limited their ICT equipment to the basics-telephone, cellphone and computer. The top 2 sources of motivation for the women were financial-related-to improve the standard of living and to be financially independent. An interesting result was that there were some who were motivated because of community orientation/social conscience considerations. The entrepreneurial management practices/traits in which the respondents scored highly were those which reflected women's innate characteristics: having a high demand for quality, having good relationships with customers and suppliers, and being meticulous in handling business problems. On the other hand, the entrepreneurial traits where the respondents manifested lower scores were in the areas of information-gathering before decision-making; asserting their decisions even if others disagree strongly with them, being aggressive in the export market and in their business strategies; having access to technology; and networking. The problems encountered by women were still primarily financial problems- access to finance for business growth and to start-up finance. The top 2 identified areas for assistance were also related to finance-low cost loans for business development and start-up. The factors were identified to be significant to business success were identified after conducting a t-test were: business growth strategies being affected by household responsibilities; being concerned with quality standards; maintaining very good relationships with customers; maintaining very good relationships with suppliers; being conscious about the safety of workers; getting others to support recommendations; feeling conflict in work role and family or personal commitments; being not that exposed to different markets as they had few opportunities to move to different places; the problem of balancing time between family and business; and the number of telephones. On the other hand, the factors identified to be significantly related to business success after conducting a chi-square were: the business was the only source of support; whether the enterprise was exporting its products; whether the enterprises had a fax machine; whether their computers were connected to the Internet; whether the enterprise utilized fax for other purposes; and whether the enterprise utilized the Internet for advertising. Lastly, only 2 variables turned out to be the most critical to business success; the entrepreneur's relationship with her customers and the entrepreneur's conciousness about the safety of their workers. Recommendation of the study were presented