A growth model for understanding female-owned enterprises

Numerous policy initiatives designed to support the growth of female-owned enterprises in the developing economies have repeatedly failed to achieve their objectives. Research recognizes the lack of contextualized growth models for defining female-owned enterprises in such contexts as the main issue. Thus, and drawing from our qualitative data, we propose a growth model to account for the business development activities of female-owned enterprises from a developing economy perspective. Through analysing our qualitative data, it emerged that money (access and utilization), management (non-formal education and experience) and market (customer intelligence) were direct determinants of the growth trajectories of female-owned enterprises. Motherhood (household and family), meso- (membership of professional networks and social learning) and macro-environment (sociocultural and economic issues) indirectly influenced their growth by mediating women’s access and utilization of the above-mentioned direct determinants. From that, we offer recommendations for practitioners including public authorities and key actors within the entrepreneurial ecosystem that provide the support infrastructure for female-owned enterprises in a developing economy