New Visa and Emerging Europe survey reveals 9 out of 10 Ukrainian women-owned businesses do not cross national borders
As part of the She’s Next initiative, Visa announced the results of research into female leadership and entrepreneurship in Eastern and Southeastern Europe, Central Asia & the Caucasus. Emerging Europe, a prominent growth hub with expertise in the region, conducted the research. Results show 88 percent of Ukrainian women-owned businesses operate domestically. 29 percent of Ukrainian businesswomen are concerned that business will leave them no time for rest. Read more about the research findings in the material.
About the business, financing and employees sectors
The extensive study was conducted in 2022 and comprised an online survey of 2,000 female business owners or self-employed women in 11 countries, including Ukraine, 75 in-depth interviews and focus groups.
“As one of our interviewees said, it is harder for women to raise funds. And raising funds is only one of multiple challenges that female entrepreneurs are facing,” said Andrew Wrobel, Founding Partner of Emerging Europe. “In this research, we wanted to understand all potential obstacles that might influence the businesses and start-ups women create. We also wanted to explore their needs, as well as potential solutions that could empower them and help their businesses grow internationally.”
Overall, most women-owned businesses (84 percent) in Eastern and Southeastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus don’t cross international borders (in Ukraine this number is 88 percent), but all female entrepreneurs are willing to learn about doing business abroad.
The leading sectors where women-owned businesses operate are:
- beauty and wellness (17 percent);
- retail (12 percent);
- agriculture and food (12 percent);
- education (eight percent);
- PR and marketing (seven percent).
Two-thirds of female entrepreneurs do not use external financing. Some 35 percent of women-owned businesses in the region were set up with an investment of less than 1,000 US dollars. Three-quarters do not have any employees, and only one in 10 women employs more than 5 people.
“From its start in 2019, the She’s Next program was all about empowering female leaders and local communities and helping them thrive,” said Vira Platonova, Visa Senior Vice President and Group Country Manager for 17 countries. “We are happy to see female leaders of Ukraine and the whole region of Eastern and Southeastern Europe, Central Asia and the Caucasus gradually transition to e-commerce and enjoy convenient and reliable digital payments. We will use the results of the research to bring many more initiatives promoting gender inclusivity in the region.”
Key takeaways
1. Women strive for professional and financial independence. The main sources of motivation for women to start their business are the desire to increase income (50 percent), willingness to work for themselves (31 percent) and fulfillment of a dream (21 percent).
In Ukraine, the main motivation sources to start a business are the desire to increase income (42 percent) and the desire to be independent (41 percent).
2. Female entrepreneurs care about their business and private lives almost equally. Respondents named business failure (29 percent), a worsening financial situation (27 percent) and neglect of family and children (25 percent) among their biggest concerns.
Businesswomen in Ukraine, on the other hand, are most worried their business might leave them no time for rest (29 percent), the fear of failure comes second (26 percent).
3. Women-owned businesses struggle to survive competition and raise funding. Female entrepreneurs tend to face such challenges as high competition (40 percent), raising capital (32 percent), and unfavorable business conditions (31 percent).
Respondents in Ukraine noted that the biggest challenge of setting up and running a business in their country are high competition (58 percent), while only 37 percent and 21 percent face unfavorable business conditions or problems with obtaining financing.
4. Female entrepreneurs want to learn about doing business online. The primary skills that respondents are willing to obtain are strategies to acquire additional funding (47 percent), digital marketing and social media (37 percent), e-commerce (24 percent) and international business development (21 percent).
In Ukraine, the top of the most popular skills looks the same: the leaders are strategies to acquire additional funding (47 percent), digital marketing and social media (38 percent) and e-commerce (27 percent).
5. Women-owned businesses stick to cash when paying employees and suppliers but tend to install POS terminals for customers. 42 percent of female entrepreneurs pay their employees and suppliers in cash, while 37 percent prefer card payments.
In Ukraine, 39 percent pay employees and suppliers in cash, and 42 percent prefer to pay by card. Regarding customers, 37 percent of respondents named card payments the most frequent method to pay for their goods and services and 42 percent said they prefer their customers to pay them by card.
The next stage of the Visa and Emerging Europe partnership — which aims to unite female entrepreneurs throughout the region within the She’s Next community — is to provide them with a platform to communicate, mentor, exchange experiences, and expand the horizons of their businesses.
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