All About Malaysian Women Entrepreneurs

There was a time when taking pictures and collecting them can really put a big hole into your pocket. Aside from the initial photo taking, there would be the hassle of choosing where they will be developed so that you will get the perfect photo quality. After that, you still need to buy the things you need to make a Malaysian women entrepreneurs today are still facing a considerable number of obstacles. You see, venturing in new markets can be a problem for Malaysian women entrepreneurs simply because of the fact that information can be hard to obtain. We all know that you need information in order to start a proper business venture. You will need to know about: a) The market - is there an available market for your product? This determines how well you can expect your product or service to be received. The market determines how much profit you will be able to make. Do you think that people will be wiling to pay the prices you set? Will your market last, or are you experiencing some kind of fad? Without proper knowledge of the market, Malaysian women entrepreneurs can end up spending a lot of money on complete and utter failures. b) The finances - you also need proper information as to the costs and the profits you can expect from your business. Entrepreneurs become entrepreneurs mainly because of the objective of profit. By having the correct financial information, you can successfully plan out your business and where you think that venture will take you. Difficulty in obtaining financial information can cause Malaysian women entrepreneurs to make wrong decisions. You see, you need to be able to estimate your finances ion the best possible manner in order to set up a business correctly. c) Comparative studies - you need to obtain accurate information about similar businesses in order to know what to expect when starting your business venture. You see, it is often hard for Malaysian women entrepreneurs to obtain accurate and up-to-date information. This can lead to some pretty serious lapses of judgment. Hypes and fads occur all the time. You need accurate information in order to see if a business that was popular last week is still feasible today. Another problem encountered by Malaysian women entrepreneurs is lack of networking. You see, connections are important when running your own business. By establishing connections with other Malaysian women entrepreneurs you get a lot of advantages, including: 1) Information sharing - information is easier to obtain if you have a number of people

keeping their eyes and ears open. By forming a network with other Malaysian women entrepreneurs, you actually get the opportunity to gather more information, providing you also share what you know. 2) Advice - in starting your own business, you need all the help you can get. How can you get it if you don't network with other Malaysian women entrepreneurs? Nobody can claim to know everything about business, but within a network, you can come pretty close. 3) Pooling of resources - by networking with other Malaysian women entrepreneurs, you have the opportunity to share resources. We all know that businesses suffer losses. However, being in a network can help you recover quickly from any type of defeat. Entrepreneurial networks today actually have help systems which try and support members when their business is facing a crisis. Fortunately enough, there actually is a group that Malaysian women entrepreneurs can turn to when they need help. The National Association of Women Entrepreneurs of Malaysia (NAWEM) was formed with the objective of helping Malaysian women entrepreneurs get their businesses off the ground and become globally competitive. NAWEM actually provides Malaysian women entrepreneurs with different types of help. The organization conducts trainings and seminars designed to help Malaysian women entrepreneurs expand their skills and gain more knowledge regarding entrepreneurship. NAWEM also provides Malaysian women entrepreneurs with various opportunities to help them penetrate their target market. You see, by joining an association like this, Malaysian women entrepreneurs finally get the edge they need. The group can act as a network, letting Malaysian women entrepreneurs share resources and information. The organization strives to fulfill the shortcomings of the individual. NAWEM also helps Malaysian women entrepreneurs with their financial needs, giving them grants or loans in order to help them expand their ideas and business ventures. In doing so, they also strive to better the status of Malaysian women entrepreneurs. They also help these women by providing them with guidance and leadership. Entering the business world can be quite confusing, but an organization like NAWEM can help you find your way.

Article Review: Growing Confidence Empowers Asian Women

This article looks at the growing trends in women entrepreneurship and the role that governments are playing in facilitating women entrepreneurial ventures;

making it an economically and viable venture with opportunities for social and political growth. The article specifically examines the strides that women in South Asia and East Asia are making in business through support from microfinance institutions that provide them with credits. Another feature that it examines is the need for access to larger loans from larger financial institutions, as well as the need for training to help women in their businesses to reach sustainable levels. While another pressing issue that is addressed, is the change that banking institutions are now introducing sensitivity towards women as borrowers and business owners by delivering customized loans services.

Article Review: How Government can help Women Business

By Dr. Cheryl Cottle I like this article because it identifies some sound solutions to the challenges that some women owned businesses experience and if implemented would be a great assistance: they would propel the growth of women in business significantly. Government across the globe should also consider these recommendations made by the National Womens Business Council in the U.S, when addressing ways to make women owned businesses a more economically viable venture. The article opens with the question: Women entrepreneurs undoubtedly face a unique set of challenges, and often run different types of businesses than their male counterparts. What can the Obama Administration and Congress do to help them? In it the author provides the recommendations made by the National Womens Business Council which are as follows:

Re-evaluate Small Business Administration lending programs. Many women dont significantly grow their operations beyond a few employees for family and lifestyle reasons. This makes it extra difficult for these businesses to secure poststart-up capital, especially when compared to male business owners with aggressive growth plans. NWBC recommends adapting SBA-backed lending programs to make growth capital more accessible to women, including: offering stage-based loans that provide money to businesses based on the stage of development; extending credit lines once start-up loans are paid off; allowing accounts receivable

to be pledged as collateral and aligning women business owners with patient capital investors who dont require immediate or fast repayment. Give tax credits to angel investors. Women-owned businesses can benefit greatly from angel investors, affluent individuals who invest in small businesses but dont demand the same size and growth aspirations of venture capitalists. Congress should seriously consider a bill that would provide tax credits to angel investors. Create tax incentives for improving employees experience. Many women business owners want to offer programs such as child-care assistance, good health benefits and wellness programs that improve employees lives. They would like tax incentives to offer these types of programs. Ensure women-owned businesses win at least 5% of federal contracts. A 2000passed law mandates that federal agencies must dole out 5% of all federal contracts to women-owned businesses. NWBC says its members overwhelmingly support that rule and want to see it enforced (which it hasnt been). Also set up a federal contracting clearinghouse just for women. Many women entrepreneurs dont try for contracts because finding opportunities and pursuing them is so complicated. The government should set up a special Web site that lists contracting set-asides just for women-owned businesses along with resources on topics, such as how women can apply for 8(a) certification. Increase funding for federal entrepreneurs support organizations, such as Womens Business Centers and SCORE. Many women rely on these federally funded programs and business incubators for help. Also offer more outreach to women entrepreneurs and mentoring opportunities. Ease costs and regulations for microbusinesses. Since many women do run businesses with very few employees and often from their homes the government should consider how it can assist these businesses. Among suggestions: Amend the home-office deduction to make it more attractive, get rid of selfemployment tax for firms without employees, expand micro-lending through the SBA and provide federal contracting set-asides just for microbusinesses.

WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS IN THE ECONOMIC SCENARIO-CHALLENGES AHEAD

Women Entrepreneurship is both about Women pose in society and the role of Women Entrepreneurship in the same society. Women are faced with specific obstacles (such as family responsibilities) that have to be overcome in order to give them access to the same opportunities as men. Also, in some countries, women may experience obstacles with

respect to holding property and entering contracts. Increased participation of women in the labour force is a prerequisite for improving the position of women in society and selfemployed women. The role of Women Entrepreneur needs to be considered in the economic development of the nation for various reasons. Women Entrepreneur has been recognized during the last decade as an important untapped source of economic growth. Women Entrepreneurs create new jobs for themselves and others and by being different also provide society with different solutions to management, organization and business problems as well as to the exploitation of Women Entrepreneurial opportunities. However, they still represent a minority of all Women Entrepreneurs. Thus there exists a market failure discriminating against Women possibility to become Women Entrepreneurs and their possibility to become successful Women Entrepreneurs. This market failure needs to be addressed by policy makers so that the economic potential of this group can be fully utilized. While without a doubt the economic impact of women is substantial, we still lack a reliable picture describing in detail that specific impact. Recent efforts initiated by the OECD (1997, 2000) are responses to this lack of knowledge and have focused the attention of policy makers and was on this important topic. Women Entrepreneurship has been largely neglected both in society in general and in the social sciences. Not only have women lower participation rates in Women Entrepreneurship than men but they also generally choose to start and manage firms in different industries than men tend to do. The industries (primarily retail, education and other service industries) chosen by women are often perceived as being less important to economic development and growth than high-technology and manufacturing. Furthermore, conventional research, policies and Proposals tend to be "men streamed" and too often do not take into account the specific needs of Women Entrepreneurs and would-be Women Entrepreneurs. As a consequence, equal opportunity between men and women from the perspective of Women Entrepreneurship is still not a reality. In order to realize the benefits of policy changes it is important to incorporate a Women Entrepreneurial dimension in considering all SMEs and growth policies (e.g. meeting Women financing needs at all stages of the business continuum; take-up of business development and support services; access to corporate, government and international markets; technology access and utilization; R&D and innovation; etc.). Moreover this means periodically evaluating the impact of these measures on the success of womenowned businesses and exchanging good models and best practices, through cooperation with leading international organizations such as the OECD, European Union, APEC, UNCTAD and the ILO, in order to continually improve policies and Proposals. Better qualitative information and quantitative data and statistics are required to profile Women Entrepreneurs (demographic information, barriers to start-up and growth). This would also assist in promoting awareness of the role of Women Entrepreneurs in the

economy. Using a frame of reference such as that developed in the report could be valuable for the analysis of this information. It is observed that Women Entrepreneur networks are major sources of knowledge about Women Entrepreneur and they are increasingly recognized as a valuable tool for its development and promotion. Policy makers must foster the networking of associations and encourage co-operation and partnerships among national and international networks and facilitate Women Entrepreneurial endeavors by women in the economy. The challenge of world class competition and the attempts at globalization and Liberalization has tremendously altered the business environment of firms in India. In contributing to the working of any firm in India, be as a policy maker or as a person doing business with a firm in India or as a marketing practitioner or as an academician, it is important to understand how practically the firms have taken measures to combat the onslaught of these challenges. What new turns have been made in the actual working system of Women Entrepreneur? In other words, an understanding of the exact nature of the paradigm shifts in small and medium enterprises. That is, from the point of view of an individual firm in India, how the challenge of the shifting economic environment been perceived and what new efforts have been adopted towards managing these challenges? From the above passages, it is worthwhile to mention the major recommendations contributed by the researchers from the wide-ranging study about Women Entrepreneur were summarized below: 1. Increase the ability of women to participate in the labour force by ensuring the availability of affordable child care and equal treatment in the work place. More generally, improving the position of women in society and promoting Women Entrepreneurship generally will have benefits in terms of Women Entrepreneur. 2. Listen to the voice of Women Entrepreneurs. The creation of government offices of Women business ownership is one way to facilitate this. Such offices could have programmed responsibilities such as providing Women business centres, organizing information seminars and meetings and/or providing web-based information to those wanting to start and grow a business. 3. Incorporate a Women Entrepreneurial dimension in the formation of all SMErelated policies. This can be done by ensuring that the impact on Women Entrepreneur is taken into account at the design stage. 4. Promote the development of Women Entrepreneur networks. These are major sources of knowledge about Women Entrepreneur and valuable tools for its development and promotion. Co-operation and partnerships between national and international networks can facilitate Women Entrepreneurial endeavors by women in a global economy.

5. Periodically evaluate the impact of any SME-related policies on the success of women-owned businesses and the extent to which such businesses take advantage of them. The objective should be to identify ways to improve the effectiveness of those that should be retained. Good practices that are identified in this way should be disseminated and shared internationally. 6. Improve the factual and analytical underpinnings of our understanding of the role of Women Entrepreneurs in the economy. This requires strengthening the statistical basis for carrying out gender-related cross-country comparative analyses and longitudinal studies of the impact of important developments and policies, especially over time. 7. Women Entrepreneur is dependent on both demand side (political and institutional framework, family policy and market sources) and supply side factors (the availability of suitable individuals to occupy Women Entrepreneurial roles). 8. Women Entrepreneur depends on both the situation of women in society and the role of Women Entrepreneurship in that same society. Both the factors that affect the gender system and the factors that affect Women Entrepreneurship in society are involved. CONCLUSION: In a nutshell, the Specific obstacles to Women Entrepreneur are: type of education, lack of role models in Women Entrepreneurship, gendering of Women Entrepreneurship, weak social status, competing demands on time and access to finance. Hence ,Women Entrepreneur must be examined both at the individual level (i.e. the choice of becoming self-employed) and at the firm level (the performance of women owned and managed firms) in order to fully understand the differences between men and Women Entrepreneur, since they play an effective role for contribuing a mite to the economic development of the country.