Throughout the Caribbean region, including Guyana, women entrepreneurs and women-owned businesses are on the rise. However, until recently, there was little concrete information or data available about these enterprises, the unique challenges they face, and their future growth potential.

Without these details, it can be difficult for governments, professional networks, and other institutions to know what Caribbean women entrepreneurs need to grow and thrive.

In an effort to fill this gap, the World Bank Group produced a comprehensive report in 2015 that took a detailed look at the current state of women-owned businesses and female entrepreneurship in the Caribbean. Covering a range of focus areas including general business environment, sectorial constraints, and programming lessons, the report provides valuable, in-depth insight into this previously under-researched area.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

Doing business is similar throughout the Caribbean region.

Fourteen Caribbean countries, including Guyana, were investigated to produce the World Bank report. Naturally, these countries are highly diverse when it comes to factors such as size, population, wealth, and natural resources. However, what they do share are similar colonial histories, which have given rise to similar institutional structures.

Therefore, the reality of doing business across these different countries is more similar than it might initially seem, meaning that lessons learned about women-owned businesses in one country can, generally, be applicable to others in the region.

Caribbean women are less likely to be self-employed than men.

Across the Caribbean, women are generally represented in the labor market at much lower levels than men, particularly when it comes to self-employment (that is, owning and operating their own businesses). Women account for less than one-third (30 percent) of self-employed workers in the Caribbean region; similarly, only 13 percent of total female employment is accounted for by self-employment, compared to 33 percent of males.

Most self-employed Caribbean women operate alone.

The World Bank report estimates that there are approximately 228,000 self-employed women in the Caribbean region. Of these, a remarkable 90 percent (204,000) have no employees; in other words, these women are solo entrepreneurs who own and operate their businesses entirely by themselves.

Once again, these figures are in contrast to the numbers on male self-employment: Of the estimated 533,000 self-employed men in the Caribbean region (more than double the number of self-employed women), 83 percent (445,000) have no employees.

Female entrepreneurship is concentrated in particular sectors.

In general, women-owned businesses in the Caribbean tend to operate primarily in service-oriented, relatively low technology- and knowledge-intensive sectors. For example, 46 percent of female-owned businesses fall into the retail trade, hotel, and restaurant category, compared with just 34 percent of male-owned businesses. The concern here is that these sectors have limited potential for growth and innovation, particularly given their largely domestic focus and high levels of market saturation.

The constraints on women-owned businesses in the Caribbean are influenced by socio-cultural factors.

The World Bank report reveals that many of the specific obstacles or barriers that Caribbean women face when it comes to entrepreneurship and business ownership are strongly influenced by social and cultural factors.

Traditional gender roles prevail in many Caribbean countries, meaning that women are still expected to focus their energies on the family and the home rather than the labor market. As a result, when women do start their own enterprises, these businesses are often closely linked to what is viewed as “women’s work,” and they are more likely to be home-based, smaller, and less formal than businesses run by men. This can make them less attractive to lenders, constraining them even further. In fact, across the Caribbean, women identify access to finance as the single largest obstacle to business.

Targeted support for women entrepreneurs is essential.

As the World Bank report shows, there is a clear window of opportunity for governments, donors, and other entities to offer targeted support to women entrepreneurs throughout the Caribbean. Particularly needed are programs that have the aim of expanding women’s involvement in technology- and knowledge-intensive sectors and support women through enhanced access to resources (including financial, human, physical, capital, and social capital resources).

Beyond facilitating access to finance, steps that supporters should consider taking include providing business-related training and peer learning sessions, offering business coaching and mentoring opportunities, developing regional business networks for female entrepreneurs, and furnishing key market information.

In Guyana, GBTI is proud to be a strong supporter of women entrepreneurs and women-owned small businesses. GBTI is committed to helping these enterprises grow not only through its general small business loans, but also through its unique Women of Worth (WOW) loan facility. Geared toward single mothers, the WOW program is specially designed to make it easier for these women to access the necessary financing to start their own businesses. Visit the GBTI website to find out more.