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By Perry Gil S. Mallari
FILIPINO women have a fairly
equal chance of making it big as entrepreneurs, a recent survey
indicated. Let’s Go Foundation and GE Money Bank recently
presented the results of a study on women entrepreneurship
identifying key factors affecting success and failure in business.
Conducted on women who belong to
the 30- to 39-year-old bracket, the survey found out that 65 percent
of the respondents have had previous work experience in private
corporations before going into business. Commenting on the aspect of
education, Professor Jay Bernardo, founder of the Let’s Go
Foundation said, “Forty-three percent of the women entrepreneurs
surveyed find that what they learned from their university
professors are most useful in operating their businesses versus the
common notion that workshops are the most effective tools.”
Bernardo emphasized that it is therefore important to optimize the
learning experience by allowing the teachers to have the right
classroom materials and learning tools.
Familial influence also surfaced
significantly on 53 percent of the respondents who answered that one
or both of their parents are entrepreneurs. Going to the
nitty-gritty aspects of running a business, 31 percent of those
surveyed said finance is the most critical subject to master, while
26 percent said marketing and another 23 percent said strategic
management.
The success rate of Filipino
women going into business looks promising. Fifty-one percent managed
to sail smoothly on their first try while 74 percent got it right in
less than two attempts. Bernardo further added that based on the
survey, early exposure to corporate settings and networking proved
to be a plus factor for women entrepreneurs.
Using the data from the survey,
Let’s Go Foundation and GE Money Bank are working on a curriculum
to be adapted by teachers nationwide into their respective
entrepreneurship programs. Ben Kua, president and CEO of GE Money
Bank said,” The survey results are incredibly important because
they point us in the right direction toward building a unique and
relevant program that offers women interested in entrepreneurship
the right foundation to succeed.”
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