What do you call a women entrepreneur? Entrepreneuress? Lady entrepreneur?
Call them by what you like but they are fast becoming a force to be reckoned with in the economy. Not that they never were, but now they are more visible now. Especially in my beloved country, Malaysia.
I guess I have noticed this a long time ago but never had the urge to really look into it, to study this phenomenon. My mom and dad are both teachers and despite my dad being a few levels up from my mom throughout their careers, my mom is always the one with the extra cash; it came from her clandestine jewelry-pay-by-installment business. (What can you say? it is in her blood. At one stage, my siblings and I were made by her to sell 'budu' from our house - well the business provided the much needed supplement to care for six of my siblings as well as my uncles and aunties that my parents took under their care. Praise to the Almighty, we all turned out pretty well in life).
Like I said, I observed that this natural enterprising skill getting more and more prevalent among women since I was very young and now the Facebook and Blogs are inundated with online purveyors sellling tudung, scrafs, imitation handbags, trinkets and many more undertaken by YOUNG female entrepreneurs. But I never had the urge to look deep into it until my seminar on Smart Entrepreneurship last Sunday.
At the seminar there was this wonderful lady that exudes confidence and anyone could tell that she is a seasoned entrepreneur the moment she walked into any room. Let's call her Puan Zam (because I did not ask for her permission yet). Anyway, after a short chat with her, it confirms and validates my intuition that the womenfolk are fast rising and filling up the entrepreneurship room. And they are filling up the important parts, the value chain.
Some of them work from home and some have a few businesses running. They run as fast any businessmen, as creative and as resilient. They appear more optimistic and leans more on the positive sides of any situation. It may be difficult for me to admit this, but they are cool. They seem to handle failures and rejections, that are aplenty in entrepreneurship, much better than some men that I know. They seem to be quite tough.
They are more humble and their propensity to learn is immense. They soak up information and knowledge like a sponge; fast turning those information into skills. No longer are them the quietest in the class. They are at the front and speaking up.
And they have a GREAT support system. A genuine support system that aims and deliver assistance. That alone is the most powerful weapon for any entrepreneur. They have clusters, they meet regularly and they keep the clusters disciplined and urgent - actions oriented. I guess this is the benefit of MLM and Direct Selling businesses that have mushroomed in the country for the last couple of decades; and it was embraced, almost 80%, by women. This business gave them structure.
Well I guess, being a man, I feel duty-bound to find some form of credit to us menfolks. Some of it must be due to us, men (please take this part as more of a jest than anything):
1. They are tougher and handle failures and problems better because many other men (not us, others) have given their wives and girlfriends problems at home. With the children in tow, and moral pressure from the society, women are more often than not forced to face the problems provided by these men (not us, some other men). To face the husband (problem) at home day in day out. Some men (not us, others) would rather leave the house than face the problem. Sad but true (for others, not you readers)
2. The cluster and structure is also a by-product of the above. They bond together as they console each other in dealing with the problems. Their cluster are therefore a bond created by trust and the intention of improving their situation. Unlike women, whenever men have their clusters, usually it is up to no good, hehe. Unless it is in the mosque, even that could give the wife headache at times.
Anyway, that is my observation. Women entrepreneurs are a force to be reckoned with very soon and I congratulate them as I congratulate my mom.
NOTE
The Author is the principal of ElixirEducate is a Smart Entrepreneur training house. You can find more information on ElixirEducate and their upcoming seminars on
http://www.facebook.com/pages/ElixirEducate/136633746433836 . You would find other useful entrepreneurial tips too.
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