Women entrepreneurship in the MENA region: Factors influencing entrepreneurial motivation

Women's entrepreneurship has been relevant for several years in the MENA region. It has been recognized as a lever for economic and social growth as well as a tool for job creation attracting more and more theorists and researchers from across the globe. I n this particularly buoyant context, the goal of our research paper is to identify the factors influencing the motivation of women entrepreneurs in this region on the assumption that socio - cultural and individual factors are at the heart of women's entrepr eneurship in the MENA region. The answers are supported through a qualitative study based on the empirical results of a survey of 45 innovative entrepreneurs from 10 different countries between 2017 and 2020 and based on an in - depth literature review