In the next decade, as part of a global trend, many women in MENA will start to participate in the economy, driving growth and prosperity, under the correct circumstances. In the Middle East there are around 90 million of these economically excluded women - women poised to become employees, producers, and entrepreneurs under the right conditions.

One of the most powerful methods of economic inclusion is entrepreneurship, and it is one that Middle East governments should pursue. The Middle East lacks women in enterprise, and insufficient encouragement for young women is reinforcing this trend. Women own just 20% of Middle East companies, compared with nearly 40% in Latin America. Underlying this fact is the lack of students' exposure to entrepreneurship and their consequent failure to demonstrate any interest. According to a recent Booz & Company's survey, conducted to understand students' voices across the GCC, young Qataris showed the least interest in becoming entrepreneurs. In particular, just 3% of Qatar's local high school and university students expressed interest in becoming entrepreneurs, compared with 11% regionally. There is also a striking imbalance in interest between female and male students, in part because young women lack female role models. In Qatar, 62% of interest in entrepreneurship came from males, and just 38% from females.

Challenging conditions
Making matters more difficult for women entrepreneurs are the lack of finance and the challenging business environment. Women in business do not have easy access to credit, especially since they don't have the required collateral to secure loans because of unequal access to land and property. As a result, only 10% of the funding for women entrepreneurs comes from commercial banks and other formal sources. Women are forced to acquire funds from family and friends, or use household funds or savings to cover new investments and to raise working capital. The few women who try to run their own businesses are confronted with excessive bureaucratic regulations and fees to register a business. Infrastructure costs are steep, while rents for business premises and offices are expensive, as are the costs associated with establishing communications systems and other utilities.

The other disadvantage that women have is that they rarely receive entrepreneurial training and support. There are few networks to support women entrepreneurs, few female role models, as mentioned previously, and few chances for advanced entrepreneurial education. Men take such support, colloquially known as the "old boys' network", for granted.

For Qatar, bringing women into the workforce and ensuring they have the tools to become entrepreneurs will advance the country toward sustainable economic growth, a core goal of the Qatar National Development Strategy 2011-2016. Women entrepreneurs also have the positive effect of helping more women to participate in the workforce and putting more women in higher-level positions. Women constitute about 25% of the workforce in female-owned firms in the MENA region, with many in professional and managerial levels, compared with 22% in male-owned firms, mostly in low-skills positions, according to research conducted by the World Bank's International Finance Corporation (IFC) and Booz & Company.

Areas of focus
Qatar, which has taken steps to advance women in the workforce, can boost these efforts by focusing on five key areas: introducing early entrepreneurship education into the school curriculum; developing an enabling regulatory environment; facilitating the availability of finance; providing access to business support services and mentoring; and ensuring openings for collaboration and networking.

Early entrepreneurship education is important because it instils an entrepreneurial culture among women. This starts in the middle or secondary school classroom and should encompass the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, business and financial management. One system used by schools worldwide to teach entrepreneurship as a practical skill, rather than just theory, is supplied by the BizWorld Foundation. Students participate in workshops in which they run mock enterprises, allowing them to experience something akin to the entrepreneurship business cycle.

An enabling regulatory environment is critical because it sends the message that enterprise is welcome. Determining this framework will require the government and stakeholders to establish an institutional body focused on women to collect data, formulate policy, and advocate it. Government and supporters should also define public procurement guidelines, thereby encouraging companies to integrate women-run small and medium-sized businesses into the supply chain.

Facilitating the availability of finance involves the government ensuring that female entrepreneurs have access to information about the types of financing on offer. The government should also support their qualification for it, which may require that family and labour laws be amended to enable women to gain credit more easily. Governments should also make sure that women are aware of other financiers available to them such as equity investors, banks, microfinance loan schemes and government programmes.

In terms of providing women with access to business support services and mentoring, governments can establish business incubators focused on supporting women entrepreneurs. Developed countries use this technique frequently. Incubators offer women the support they need to successfully run their businesses. This includes basics such as assistance with marketing initiatives, accounting, training and regulatory compliance. Incubators can also provide female mentors and role models so that potential women entrepreneurs can acquire the necessary knowledge, expertise and confidence to start their own businesses.

Finally, governments and other stakeholders need to come forward with structures for collaboration and networking opportunities for women. Local businesses and associations should be encouraged to offer entrepreneurship and management training. Business development centres and businesswomen's associations can provide venues for networking opportunities. International women's associations should also be encouraged to support and partner local initiatives, thereby creating regional networks of women entrepreneurs.

By providing support and services that will start to redress the imbalance that exists against women in business, Qatar can help more of its women to become entrepreneurs and take advantage of the multiple opportunities arising from the country's robust economic growth and ambitious development goals.

By Leila Hoteit, Principal At Booz & Company, and Mounira Jamjoom, Senior Research Specialist at the Ideation Centre, Booz & Company's think tank in the Middle East.

© Qatar Today 2013