Content area
Full text
ABSTRACT
While there has been research to determine personal characteristics of successful women entrepreneurs in developed countries, there is less research in developing countries, including Mexico. This is an exploratory study to develop a conceptual model based on the literature of the personal characteristics of successful women entrepreneurs. The model includes three success variables: balance, resilience, and determination.
Keys words: Women entrepreneur, personal characteristics, success.
INTRODUCTION
Research supports that empowering women and promoting gender equality is key to achieving sustainable development (United Nations Entity for Gender Equiality and Empowerment of Women, 2013). Greater gender equity can make the economy more efficient and improve other development outcomes by removing barriers that prevent women from having the same access as men to staffing, rights and economic opportunities. Giving women access to equal opportunities allows them to have a more relevant social and economic role and thus make progress in the formulation of more inclusive policies (Kok, Deijl, and Veldhuis-Van Essen, 2013). Women historically have had fewer possibilities and fewer rights to obtain and pursue employment. To do this, it is necessary for women to have better educational opportunities. Investing in women and girls has a multiplier effect on productivity, efficiency and sustained local development. Women contribute in the long run to poverty eradication and the promotion of local development (Alvear, 2009). When women have the opportunity to study, access to resources and a place in the political arena, not only improves the quality of their lives, also strengthens economies. Investing in the female gender provides long-term benefits since they are the main caretakers of the future generation (United Nations Entity for Gender Equiality and Empowerment of Women, 2013).
Kok, Deijl, and Veldhuis-Van Essen (2013) suggest that a good strategy for overcoming poverty is the creation of new sources of work and in this respect, small and medium-sized enterprises(SME) play a fundamental role. This fact turns the entrepreneurs into potential economic agents and therefore the success of their entrepreneurship will also be to build a better national economy.
In Mexico, women hold 31% of top management positions (32% in the OECD), 7% of the board of directors of Mexican companies are women (10% in the OECD), and only 2% of Mexican women are businesswomen (compared to 6%...