Assessing the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem in Egypt through a Gender Lens

Abstract

Purpose: According to the Egyptian Start-up Ecosystem Report (ITIDA, 2021), Egypt has one of the foremost start-up ecosystems on Africa, both in terms of levels of start-up activity and inward investments. Yet the county lags in terms of women’s participation in founding start-ups. According to the latest Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report for Egypt, the entrepreneurial activity rate for women was 5.7%, while that of Egyptian men was 16.7%, despite women’s positive attitudes towards entrepreneurship. Methodology: The current research has an exploratory nature and aims at analysing entrepreneurship ecosystem in Egypt through a gender lens to highlight the factors that are hindering Egyptian women from exploiting the different elements of the ecosystem. To achieve this, it adopts the exploratory research approach combining semi-structured interviews with ten women entrepreneurs chosen using expert sampling and an online survey distributed via Egyptian entrepreneurs’ online communities. Findings: Analysis shows that Egyptian women entrepreneurs do not believe that the ecosystem discriminates against them, but there are some practices that are gender-insensitive which poses challenges to women hence impact their presence and activities within the ecosystem. Unique contribution to theory, policy and practice: The results add to the literature of both entrepreneurship ecosystem and women entrepreneurship in Egypt and it provides practical implications to leverage Egyptian women participation in entrepreneurship.