Women Entrepreneurship in the Philippines: A Data Collection

Background

Women entrepreneurship is increasingly being recognized as an important factor for economic growth and development in Asia and other parts of the world. Entrepreneurship creates new jobs for men and women, essential in regions with a young population and high unemployment rates. Empirical findings indicate that increase in women’s income lead to higher spending on family welfare, often critical for reaching key national development goals in areas such as nutrition and education.

In the Philippines, where female labor force participation as well as unemployment rates are found to be increasing, entrepreneurship can offer new opportunities for women to generate their own income, and help others as they do it. However, despite increasing economic activity, there is a marked lack of quantitative information on the profile of women-owned enterprises with which to inform policy making as well as program development. There is a growing need for primary data that could capture the perceptions, concerns, challenges and requirements of women entrepreneurs which could help policymakers and other institutions like banks, non-government organizations, and trade associations to design programs or interventions that can provide assistance in the development of women entrepreneurship.

Hence, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), through the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture (SEARCA), intends this study to focus in primarily gathering information on “women-owned enterprises in the Philippines to be able to appreciate the gender implications of small and medium enterprise (SME) banking in the country, and enhance the IFC program as appropriate”.

 

Objective of the Study

The general objective of the study is to “collect and compile a report of key quantitative and qualitative data on women entrepreneurs in the Philippines to gather insights on the gender implications of SME banking. The report will help inform the incorporation of gender considerations into the design and implementation of the IFC Philippines SME banking program”1. The study is essentially a market study of women entrepreneurs and how they compare with a control group of men business owners to better understand the gender dimensions of SME financing.  In order to complete the market analysis, the study also covered the suppliers of credit particularly private and government banks, other microfinance institutions (MFIs) as well as cooperatives and informal lenders.

 

Approach

The study used two approaches: 1) desk research; and 2) field survey.

  1. Desk Research. Data were gathered from existing studies and publications as well as from relevant government and non-government institutions.
  2. Field Survey. Primary data were collected from a random sample of women and men entrepreneurs with the men entrepreneurs serving as control group.

Information on supply of credit were gathered from a sample of financial institutions as suppliers of credit, particularly, private and government banks, cooperatives and some informal lenders.

Overall, the findings of this study could largely help institutions, like banks, to design programs or interventions that are more sensitive to the needs of SMEs, particularly women entrepreneurs.

Project Details

  • Women Entrepreneurship in the Philippines: A Data Collection
  • Completed
  • International Finance Corporation
  • May 2010 May 2011