The aim of this study was to explore how woman entrepreneurs in a developing country context such as Botswana create their own entrepreneurial ecosystems that support their business-venturing activities.
This qualitative research collected data via in-depth interviews from a purposive sample of 11 women who owned established enterprises in Gaborone, Botswana.
Firstly, woman entrepreneurs in Botswana displayed entrepreneurial behaviours, skills and characteristics, an ability to overcome marginalisation and a positive attitude towards failure. Secondly, the entrepreneurial ecosystems created by women included social capital ties, human capital development, alternative funding mechanisms, access to local and international markets and inclusion of digital technology as part of the ecosystem. The woman entrepreneurs were influenced by the entrepreneurial institutional conditions in Botswana. Lastly, the findings showed the significance of changes to each component of the entrepreneurial ecosystem across the stages of the entrepreneurial journey.
In a context of limited entrepreneurial resources, woman entrepreneurs should build their own ecosystem by leveraging the existing social networks and collaborating with local and international stakeholders. Government should design tailor-made entrepreneurial programmes and foster public and private partnerships to support the advancement of woman entrepreneurs. Lastly, ecosystem players including private institutions should collaborate to support women-owned entrepreneurial ventures.
This study adopted an alternative view that woman entrepreneurs can be the key drivers of the entrepreneurial ecosystem. This system must be built up from the level of the women entrepreneurs to better understand their specific stance and also the context in which they operate.
The prevalence of entrepreneurship is increasing amongst women in sub-Saharan Africa and is contributing to innovation and the creation of jobs, thereby improving the livelihood of families and communities (Adom & Asare-Yeboa,
Although the concept of an entrepreneurial ecosystem is gaining popularity in sub-Saharan Africa and other parts of the world (e.g. Atiase et al.,
An argument raised in this study was that entrepreneurial ecosystems are still in the nascent phase of development in developing countries and not as formally organised as they are in developed countries (Adams,
As such, Stam’s (
The article starts with a contextual overview of entrepreneurship in Botswana, followed by a review of existing literature, a description of the research design and a discussion of the findings. The article concludes with implications for entrepreneurs, potential applications in practice and avenues for future research.
For centuries, developing countries, particularly those in sub-Saharan Africa, have grown their economies by relying on their renewable and non-renewable natural resources (Edoho,
Although diamonds have been a key contributor to Botswana’s economic development (Sheriff & Muffatto,
Turning to entrepreneurship as a career is a growing trend amongst women in developing countries (Mastercard,
Research on entrepreneurial ecosystems of women is often reinforced by institutional theory. Davis and North (
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Scott (
Entrepreneurial ecosystems are environments in which entrepreneurs have access to resources that enable them to make use of business opportunities they have identified (Hechavarría & Ingram,
Sperber and Linder (
Spigel and Harrison (
Walsh, Winsor and Winsor (
In most cases, entrepreneurs start their businesses through engagements with social networks that provide them with the necessary emotional support, resources and knowledge required when executing entrepreneurial activities (Neumeyer, Santos, Caetano, & Kalbfleisch,
Spigel and Harrison (
Access to funding is arguably one of the key contributors to entrepreneurial success (Yacus, Esposito, & Yang,
Universities and other educational institutions in an entrepreneur’s geographical area are usually the main source of human capital (Spigel,
Sussan and Acs (
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Research shows that digital platforms open up opportunities for entrepreneurs to build their presence online (Li, Du, & Yin,
In summary, institutional theory was considered a suitable theoretical framework for this study, which had an aim to demonstrate that woman entrepreneurs’ success is not only affected by their personal attributes, but also their surrounding environment, including social setting, politics, culture and regulations (Aidis & Weeks,
A study by McAdam et al. (
McAdam et al. (
The study followed qualitative approach and an interpretivist research design, which yielded in-depth insights and meanings from the woman entrepreneurs on how they identified the different actors and formed relationships with them (Roundy et al.,
A purposive non-probability sampling method was used to select woman entrepreneurs based on their position in the business, business duration, type of business (formal sector) and a perceived history of business success (i.e. business continuity over the years and a footprint in Botswana). The sample size was 11 woman entrepreneurs based in Botswana’s capital city, Gaborone (
List of participants.
Participant | Industry | Position in the business | Number of employees |
---|---|---|---|
P1 | Insurance | Majority partner | 27 |
P2 | Beauty/cosmetics manufacturing | Founder and owner | 10 |
P3 | Beauty and spa treatment | Founder and owner | 10+ |
P4 | Media/social media analysis | Founder and owner | 4+ |
P5 | Dentistry | Founder and owner | 4 |
P6 | Transport and logistics | Founding partner and owner | 100+ |
P7 | Hotel and hospitality | Founder and owner | 20+ |
P8 | Hotel and hospitality | Founder and owner | 30+ |
P9 | Management consulting | Founder and owner | 10 |
P10 | Real estate | Founder and owner | 5 |
P11 | Shoe manufacturing and retail | Founder and owner | 4 |
Semi-structured interviews lasting 30 min to 60 min were conducted at the participants’ businesses over a period of 4 weeks. Interviews were audio-recorded with prior consent having been obtained from the participants. The recordings were transcribed through a software application and verified against the audio-recordings. The entrepreneurs reviewed their transcripts and were available to answer additional questions from the researchers to clarify any inconsistencies. Verification of transcripts, member checking and clarification improved the internal validity of the findings.
The three-level Gioia data analytical process was used to analyse the data (Gioia, Corley, & Hamilton,
Data structure.
During the analysis, the researcher continuously cross-checked the emerging aggregate dimensions against the existing literature (Gioia et al.,
The findings show that woman entrepreneurs who possess entrepreneurial behaviours are able to overcome marginalisation and embrace entrepreneurial failure, building their own ecosystems. Women who build their own entrepreneurial ecosystems have social capital ties, practise human capital development, have access to markets and funding mechanisms and engage in digital entrepreneurial activities. These ecosystem elements are surrounded by institutional conditions. The findings are presented according to the seven aggregate dimensions shown in
Building an entrepreneurial ecosystem does not take place in a vacuum, but it is influenced by the amount of institutional support that the entrepreneur receives from the government. The participants identified the government as an important actor within the ecosystem to provide funding, implement women-friendly entrepreneurship policy, facilitate access to markets and provide technical and business management support.
Some entrepreneurs highlighted that the government support services were insufficient and sometimes not related to their entrepreneurial activities. There was an agreement that one of the significant challenges was poor access to funding, which the government is not able to provide to all woman entrepreneurs:
‘We went and looked around, could not find anything, went to CEDA. CEDA rejected us after almost eight months. Not even any funding.’ (P5, Founder and owner, Dentistry)
In some cases, when the government is not able to provide for their needs, women turn to the private financial institutions. Some woman entrepreneurs had benefitted by applying for funding from private banking institutions, but some were rejected:
‘We really did not have enough, so we went to the banks. They all turned us down. They told us that we are a new establishment, we have not even been operating for six months, and we should make a U-turn. It was really frustrating.’ (P6, Founding partner and owner, Transport and logistics)
Participants emphasised that the government does not seem to understand who or what entrepreneurs are and how they operate. The government should consider the new industries, which are emerging.. These findings are important, because without understanding exactly what represents the concept and the needs of an entrepreneur, government-designed ecosystems will not meet woman entrepreneurs’ needs:
‘I have found that the structures that are created in the country, supposedly for an ecosystem, do not understand the entrepreneur. They could not help me with anything.’ (P10, Founder and owner, Real estate)
Professional associations are part of their networks. However, most of the entrepreneurs mentioned that they did not gain sufficient business management skills, but were only offered access to networks. It is therefore clear that there is a need to develop systems that are interlinked, to ensure that entrepreneurs are well supported:
‘Governments would have to create a network of opportunities, or those that create networks, which is the ecosystem … how we all work together. I have noticed that you need networks to get people working together and supporting each other to set up.’ (P4, Founder and owner, Media/social media analysis)
Finally, the findings reveal that the participants approached the government rather than PPPs for funding and training. There is no evidence of significant collaborative or contractual projects that the woman entrepreneurs executed for the government.
There are specific qualities that entrepreneurs must possess to establish an entrepreneurial ecosystem, such as an entrepreneurial inclination, the ability to deal with failure and the capacity to overcome marginalisation by society. The participants viewed themselves as passionate and hardworking and noted that they cared about the development of others, especially young girls, and that they were bold enough to make difficult decisions:
‘I do not let fear stop me from doing the things that I would like to do. If I am not sure, I discuss it with people around me.’ (P1, Majority partner, Insurance)
The women noted that, as the entrepreneurial journey is uncertain and filled with many setbacks and disappointments, one of the important qualities required for establishing an effective ecosystem is the ability to cope with business failure. Building their own ecosystems had involved the process of trial and error by testing many business avenues, business relationships and opportunities:
‘I learned the hard way. I had to close one of my other stores because it was not doing well. I focussed on one store and other strategies.’ (P2, Founder and owner, Beauty/cosmetics manufacturing)
There was consensus amongst participants that woman entrepreneurs are perceived differently from their male counterparts. However, the women who participated in this study emphasised that they were able to build their own successful ecosystems because they viewed themselves as capable and did not require any special treatment or ‘spoon-feeding’. They had recognised that they would have to overcome marginalisation:
‘I have never put this woman thing to front, because it deters us from being who we are. I have always been in the man’s world, and I have always been competent. I am on a par with them. Therefore, what is the difference? I can beat them at any game. I do not want to be treated with soft gloves because I am of a certain gender.’ (P1, Majority partner, Insurance)
The findings show that woman entrepreneurs rely on strong as well as weak ties to support their entrepreneurial start-up and later activities. Strong ties include family members, such as parents, siblings and husbands. Most of the participants indicated that their husbands played a crucial role in the ecosystem by helping them discover their passion, acting as a source of encouragement and providing financial support:
‘I have my husband as a business partner. When you say … if there was a stumbling block somewhere, I know that he will chip in. He is very supportive in that regard.’ (P8, Founder and owner, Hotel and hospitality)
However, some women had experienced resistance from their immediate families for starting business ventures. This was based on the notion that the entrepreneurial culture is still nascent in most developing countries, including Botswana. One participant stated:
‘We need to accept that our families are not used to new businesses. The culture of a business they know are those that have tenders and shops. If you do not have a shop or a butchery, then how is it a business?’ (P10, Founder and owner, Real estate)
Beyond their close families, woman entrepreneurs tend to rely on distant ties who provide them with support and assist in decision-making regarding activities in which they want to engage. These ties include successful woman entrepreneurs, retired executives, business mentors, friends and knowledgeable governmental officials:
‘I used my mentor to help me make difficult decisions. Sometimes you need somebody to give you the confidence to make a right decision.’ (P1, Majority partner, Insurance)
It was evident that mentorship played a significant role in their entrepreneurial development. However, some related that they had not had sufficient mentoring when they launched their enterprises and were forced to learn through experience and observing other entrepreneurs. Today, they are paying it forward by mentoring others:
‘… we never had any mentors to assist us. We were our own mentors, and, today, at least I am happy. I have mentored a few young Batswana [
The second-order themes related to human capital development were self-taught skills, training institutions and international benchmarking. The participants had some form of basic business education, but it was not necessarily related to their entrepreneurial activities. Many had searched for educational programmes that would equip them with skills to manage their businesses. Some had acquired degrees such as a Master of Business Administration (MBA), which had provided them with an understanding of how the different business units function, including human resources, operations, marketing and finance:
‘I got my learning through my MBA ‒ how to start a business, how to do your market research, how to do your external assessment, how to do a competitor analysis, and how to put those things together, and I came up with a business plan.’ (P10, Founder and owner, Real estate)
Some mention that the skills they possessed were self-taught. As they engaged in business activities and experimented, they learnt new sets of skills, which they were also able to pass on to their employees:
‘I started to recruit and then trained my staff. I am self-taught. I started to recruit and then trained my staff to the standard that I have created for my brand.’ (P3, Founder and owner, Beauty and spa treatment)
Finally, the findings showed that the woman entrepreneurs had not relied only on local training institutions, but also travelled internationally to benchmark their skills and potential ventures against leading companies and similar businesses in other countries, such as Brazil, China, Dubai, South Africa and Turkey:
‘We went to Dubai. I literally lived in Dubai for three months, understanding their systems, their processes.’ (P6, Founding partner and owner, Transport and logistics)
The participating entrepreneurs also highlighted the significance of access to local markets to distribute products. However, they emphasise that government and the private sector rarely involve local companies in their value chains:
‘It is more from government and corporates to believe in local companies, because some of the challenges that I come across in business are that we do not get a lot of support from big private companies and government.’ (P4, Founder and owner, Media/social media analysis)
In dealing with these challenges, women partner with each other to strengthen their entrepreneurial ecosystem. Some women have established productive partnerships with other woman entrepreneurs, whereas some women are still struggling to establish such ties:
‘I have totally been on the shoulders of a lot of women, contrary to a belief that women do not give other women business.’ (P10, Founder and owner, Real estate)
The woman entrepreneurs also revealed that business opportunities were limited because of saturated local markets. They then resorted to identifying export and marketing opportunities beyond the borders of their countries. They single-handedly established international initiatives and sought business partners to achieve their objectives. They preferred to enter markets in other countries, as it is difficult to launch a business in a foreign country without having expert advice or a thorough knowledge of that country:
‘We are looking to go into Zambia and Zimbabwe. It would be strategic partnerships with those people. My belief is it is really difficult to start afresh in a foreign market. My strategy would be to identify a partner there and buy an equity share.’ (P1, Majority partner, Insurance)
In the early stages of starting their businesses, the entrepreneurs most often used their own money as seed capital. They also sought financial assistance from their close networks, especially parents and husbands. Some were forced to sell their properties or assets to generate the needed capital, because they did not have a financial track record with which to apply to financial institutions for funding and could not yet show any business successes:
‘I literally emptied my accounts to start this company. That was a very big risk on my part. I remember my husband telling me how I have just taken the worst decision of my life, and him expressing his unhappiness towards my idea.’ (P6, Founding partner and owner, Transport and logistics)
Once they had built a track record in business, most tended to approach private and governmental funding institutions for financial assistance. They adopted the strategy of first amassing a significant amount of capital on their own, so that they needed to borrow less:
‘We said, “Let us just sell what is there, then we will see how much we are willing to come up with, so that, when we go to the bank, at least we have reduced the required amount”.’ (P8, Founder and owner, Hotel and hospitality)
‘I got assistance from government. They gave us two million pulas [
Some of these woman entrepreneurs decided to use only their own money because they did not want to incur debt. One participant (P10) noted that the
‘You have an opportunity to grow money, no matter how little that money is. In the last year, I would get money from my stokvel, say 10 000 pula [
The study’s findings suggest that woman entrepreneurs’ business landscape is changing to embrace digital platforms. They emphasised that their businesses and they as entrepreneurs have to be adaptable and agile, able to change their business models and create digital entrepreneurial ecosystems. Most of the woman entrepreneurs explained that they had started acquiring digital knowledge and skills to be able to function beyond their bricks-and-mortar locations:
‘Now, with the online store, everything can actually just be on the platform. That will help us to access markets that we are not really active in. They can actually have access to our products.’ (P11, Founder and owner, Shoe manufacturing and retail)
The move into the digital space suggests that woman entrepreneurs must seek entrepreneurial ecosystem actors ‒ suppliers and partners, both local and international ‒ who are available on digital platforms and explore new markets:
‘I do have a network internationally, people who have digital businesses in Africa. So, it was from that network that I was like, “This is something that can be done in Botswana, but it is not a complex business.”’ (P10, Founder and owner, Real estate)
Although digital businesses are growing and entrepreneurs are upskilling themselves to exploit this business approach, participants highlighted that government should take on the critical role of providing sufficient infrastructure to support digital activities:
‘Government can come in and help businesses with that, to make them aware that it is good to do business online and digital, because that is where the world is going.’ (P8, Founder and owner, Hotel and hospitality)
The purpose of the study was to explore how female entrepreneurs create their own entrepreneurial ecosystem in Botswana. The findings showed that the ecosystems created by female entrepreneurs include their social capital ties, human capital development, alternative funding mechanisms, access to markets and digital technology. These findings are consistent with those of the entrepreneurial ecosystem research conducted by Hechavarría and Ingram (
The main contribution of our study is entrepreneurial ecosystem development as seen from woman entrepreneurs’ perspective. The study revealed that, to build their own ecosystem, women must already be engaged in entrepreneurial behaviours related to an entrepreneurial inclination. They have to be able to overcome prejudices and marginalisation and have to hold a positive attitude towards failure and ‘pick themselves up again’.
Secondly, the participating female entrepreneurs relied on both their strong and weaker ties for resources. The strong ties are ‘relationships with high emotional commitment and high frequency of contact’, whilst weaker ties are characterised by ‘low emotional commitment and low frequency of contact’ (Martinez & Aldrich,
Thirdly, their human capital development occurred through self-taught skills, international benchmarking and training institutions. Fourthly, because access to markets is a challenge for most entrepreneurs, the woman entrepreneurs relied on partnerships with other local businesswomen and developed international partnerships. Research in this domain does not explicitly acknowledge the importance of international partnerships, which should be emphasised as part of a robust entrepreneurial ecosystem, especially in countries with saturated local markets. Local PPP projects must also be considered in developing an entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Fifthly, a significant number of female entrepreneurs found it difficult to access funding and opted to start their businesses on a small scale, by using their personal savings and funds from stokvels. Stokvels are mutual benefit and saving societies, where a group of people contributes money to a common pool (Verhoef,
Finally, the participants were embracing digital entrepreneurial ecosystems by creating and refining their own business models and seeking international partners. This indicates that woman entrepreneurs are gearing up through business models for digital ventures and associated collaborations.
Entrepreneurial ecosystem of women in Botswana.
Each element of the women entrepreneurial ecosystem is explained in the following sections.
Participants explained that entrepreneurial ecosystems in Botswana were underdeveloped, by stating that the government as the key player was not able to sufficiently meet the needs of entrepreneurs. Some of the needs include access to funding, programmes specifically designed to address their business needs and access to markets. Although there are programmes in place in Botswana, their implementation is ineffective. This confirms the finding of Spigel and Harrison (
Furthermore, the reviewed literature showed that the government of Botswana uses PPP projects to empower SMMEs to create employment (Republic of Botswana,
The findings of this study show that woman entrepreneurs acknowledge that the creation of a successful entrepreneurial ecosystem requires an entrepreneurial inclination, combined with the ability to overcome marginalisation and a positive attitude towards viewing failure as a stepping stone and knowing how to proceed. Moreover, the entrepreneurial behaviours such as not giving up in the face of failure and overcoming marginalisation are also significant characteristics. These findings are aligned with those of McAdam et al. (
The participants benefitted mostly from their social networks when building their entrepreneurial ecosystems. Firstly, they relied on their close ties ‒ family members, and then their distant networks, consisting of mentors, friends and established business owners. Neumeyer et al. (
The entrepreneurial ecosystem should include education facilities, where some entrepreneurs learn the skills they need to succeed in businesses (Maroufkhani et al.,
The study’s findings showed that woman entrepreneurs were involved in the entrepreneurial skill development of the girl child in Botswana. This finding is important as it demonstrates the need to mentor the girl child on entrepreneurial activities. Anyebe (
Aligned with the findings of Martinez and Aldrich (
Finally, some participants used digital platforms to learn new skills, collaborating with ecosystem actors to trade their products within and outside of Botswana (see Song,
This research was focussed on gaining an understanding of how successful female entrepreneurs had built their entrepreneurial ecosystem in the context of Botswana, through their own perceptions. These woman entrepreneurs selected and interacted with various ecosystem actors who provided support at the different stages of their business development. They created their ecosystems by identifying critical components of an ecosystem ‒ social capital ties, human capital development, access to markets, partnerships and digital actors ‒ that were important at different stages in the development of their businesses. Budding woman entrepreneurs in similar contexts could learn from these women’s journeys and apply the wisdom these women had gained, often the hard way, through trial and error and costly experience.
This study yielded five points of advice for aspirant woman entrepreneurs. Firstly, they should use their social networks to connect with mentors and successful entrepreneurs and keep building this social capital in all facets of their business, to gain information, knowledge, practical know-how, ideas for innovation and resources. Secondly, they should collaborate amongst themselves and with external sources of funding to raise the funds to establish their business. Thirdly, entrepreneurs should identify what education and training they require to be successful. Then, they should actively seek appropriate mentorship and formal education and join forums where others with experience could be of assistance. Fourthly, entrepreneurs should keep abreast of and keep in step with the unstoppable globalisation of markets and trends. They should avail themselves of opportunities, remain informed regarding trends to position their businesses in the market and stay ahead of threats. Lastly, woman entrepreneurs should actively and continuously explore opportunities to form strategic partnerships with government and PPPs, and, themselves, contribute momentum to a circle of development by mentoring novice woman entrepreneurs.
In closing, woman leaders and successful woman entrepreneurs in Africa are in a position to connect woman entrepreneurs, government and private institutions, thereby paving the way for woman entrepreneurs to flourish. One practical option is to foster entrepreneurship in women through dedicated PPP projects. Woman leaders can then act as intermediaries to fill the gaps in woman entrepreneurs’ ecosystems in partnership with society, private companies and government institutions. Such initiatives should be comprehensive and integrated, and implemented at regional, national and country level.
The findings showed that there is a mismatch between government’s entrepreneurial initiatives and the expectations of woman entrepreneurs. Government should thus focus on identifying the needs of woman entrepreneurs to ensure the alignment necessary to enable these women to flourish in their business ventures. To grow Botswana’s economy, the government should place more emphasis on creating support initiatives for formal firms with high growth potential rather than informal businesses. The impact would be amplified if these initiatives, including training programmes, are tailored to the needs of different types of enterprises. The government, in joint efforts with PPPs, should also encourage and assist in creating collaboration to support emerging digital ventures, to avoid enterprises becoming outdated and redundant because of globalisation. Finally, government should encourage investors, angel investors and venture capitalists to participate in entrepreneurial ecosystems as financiers and mentors to woman entrepreneurs.
The sample of this study was limited, as the focus was on woman entrepreneurs who had succeeded in their ventures. Therefore, the findings do not provide a wider view of different entrepreneurs’ experiences, and thus the generalisability of the findings is limited. Future research could include women who did not succeed in their business ventures, as this would yield insights into the failures of entrepreneurial ecosystems. The sample consisted only of woman entrepreneurs in Gaborone, and future research could include other African countries to obtain a multi-country focus and findings that may be generalisable to similar contexts. The current study found that different ecosystem actors are critical at different stages of the development of an entrepreneurial venture. Future research could follow a longitudinal design to explore this dynamism. There is also a need to evaluate the policies that are meant to support the entrepreneurial activities of women in Botswana, which should include how government and PPPs could build trusting relationships with woman entrepreneurs through collaboration and the promotion of local business ventures.
The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.
R.L. conducted the research under the supervision of A.M. A.M. was responsible to restructure the study’s conceptual argument and write the final manuscript.
This article followed all ethical standards for research, with ethical clearance obtained from the Gordon Institute of Business Science, University of Pretoria.
This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.
The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the author.