Botswana, Uganda, and Ghana show the highest concentration of women entrepreneurs

The 2021 Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs (MIWE) has for the third consecutive year ranked Botswana (38.5 percent), Uganda (38.4 percent), and Ghana (37.2 percent) as the countries with the most women business owners globally. The index’s benchmark indicator is calculated as a percentage of total business owners. This is the fifth edition.

The index puts a spotlight on the significant socio-economic contribution of women entrepreneurs around the world, including Africa, and provides insights into the factors driving or inhibiting their advancement.

In many African countries, women’s advancement is hampered by less supportive entrepreneurial conditions, lack of funding, fewer opportunities for higher-level education, as well as structural barriers.

Botswana, however, scores in the top 15 economies globally in terms of advancement outcomes for women, particularly as far as performance by income is concerned, out-performing high-income and developed economies such as Canada, the United States, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Australia. Botswana also scores highly in MIWE 2021’s Women’s Labour Force Participation Rates, ranking 13th globally.

Encouragingly, although Women’s Entrepreneurial Activity Rate declined in most economies, a number of African countries saw gains in this area, indicating a strong positive entrepreneurial response to the pandemic.

Nigeria, Angola, Ghana, South Africa, and Botswana, all performed well in Women’s Entrepreneurial Activity Rate, with Nigeria, Angola, and Ghana ranking in joint first place. These rankings are despite the fact that in Nigeria and Angola, Government SME Support (ranked 62 and 53 respectively) and General Access to Finance (ranked 61 and 63 respectively), are near the bottom of the rankings. Ghana scores slightly better on these metrics at 44 for Government SME Support and 37 for Access to Finance. Ghana is ranked 6th globally (69.7 percent) for Entrepreneurial Attitudes and Perceptions.

In both Nigeria and Angola, Women’s Entrepreneurial Activity Rate exceeded that of men, even though women tended to be marginalised in terms of opportunities. Both economies display a strong, optimistic culture where there are “perceived business opportunities”. These positive and healthy entrepreneurial attitudes boost women’s aspiration to become more financially independent.

According to MIWE, Nigeria also ranked second globally for the number of Women Professional and Technical Workers (59.1 percent), while Angola ranked second globally in hiring intentions, with 16.4 percent of adults planning to employ six or more people in the next five years. In addition, Angola ranked first globally in Female Opportunity Driven Entrepreneurship and sixth in Self-Perceived Business Capabilities.

“Women in Botswana, Uganda, Ghana, Nigeria, and Angola stand out as excellent examples of women’s determination to provide for themselves and their families, despite facing financial, regulatory and technical challenges. In these economies, women are able to leverage on opportunities in their respective environments to be business owners, leaders, and professional or technical workers,” says Ebehijie Momoh, Country Manager and Area Business Head for West Africa at Mastercard.  

In Malawi, a less wealthy economy, women continue to defy the odds and are making strong inroads in the business world despite socio-cultural barriers and infrastructural constraints such as a lack of government SME support, poor access to entrepreneurial finances, and severe lack of opportunities for education. The gender gaps in entrepreneurial activity rate in Malawi are amongst the narrowest on a global scale.

Despite the challenges presented by the pandemic and economic downturn, Mastercard’s research indicates that women entrepreneurs in Africa are resilient and adaptable, particularly those in low and middle-income economies, often surpassing men in terms of entrepreneurial activity.

The entrepreneurial spirit sees opportunity in each day to reimagine, refresh and reinvent – a defining factor for women’s success in business since long before the latest crisis.

Continuing to create the right social, political, and financial understanding and conditions for this entrepreneurial spirit to realise its success is of singular importance for future economic growth. Government policies that intentionally support women’s entrepreneurship can also meaningfully contribute to a swifter, more balanced recovery.

As part of Mastercard’s commitment to creating a world where women entrepreneurs are equally represented and supported, the company made a global commitment to connect 25 million women entrepreneurs to the digital economy by 2025. Not only will empowering women’s entrepreneurship act as a catalyst for growth and innovation, but it will also raise up the communities around successful women and fuel a global recovery that is more equitable and sustainable for everyone.

Download the 2021 Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs report from mastercard.com/news/MIWE.

Methodology

MIWE uses 12 indicators and 27 sub-indicators to create three “Components”: Women’s Advancement Outcomes; Knowledge Assets and Financial Access; and Entrepreneurial Supporting Conditions. These allow us to track factors and conditions that support and drive the female share of business owners in an economy across 65 economies, representing about 82 percent of the world’s female labour force.  

The updated MIWE ranks and scores each economy according to its performance over the past year. Aggregating these scores, the index provides an overall assessment of how women are faring in the business, financial, education, and workplace settings compared to their male counterparts at the national level as well as their peers on a global level. In the 5th edition, the number of economies analysed has been expanded from 58 to 65 (with the addition of Qatar, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Morocco, Jordan, Lebanon, and Madagascar). 

To accommodate the addition of new indicators and sub-indicators in the analysis and maintain the historical series, and allow for comparisons, we have also re-published the index, component, and benchmark scores for the previous two years as well.

About Mastercard (NYSE: MA)

Mastercard is a global technology company in the payments industry. Our mission is to connect and power an inclusive, digital economy that benefits everyone, everywhere, by making transactions safe, simple, smart, and accessible. Using secure data and networks, partnerships, and passion, our innovations and solutions help individuals, financial institutions, governments, and businesses realise their greatest potential. Our decency quotient, or DQ, drives our culture and everything we do inside and outside of our company. With connections across more than 210 countries and territories, we are building a sustainable world that unlocks priceless possibilities for all.

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