Are SA women lagging?

Johannesburg - Forget green energy and socially responsible businesses, the biggest driving force of entrepreneurial activity and global leadership is likely to come from one source - women in business.

Highly-rated South African trend strategist Dion Chang identifies this as the "the start of the female century" in his latest Flux Trend Review release.

He points to research that shows that in 2009, for the first time, more women than men were employed in the US workforce. A big contributor to this is the fact that the industries hardest hit were banking and manufacturing, traditionally dominated by males.

Chang said: "This is the most significant social change in a single generation, and sees women gaining more power in terms of their income and spend."

For those who dismiss "trend strategies" in favour of hard research, more and more data suggest women are becoming bigger drivers in the global economy.

Women will create 70% of the global growth in income at the household level over the next five years, US-based Boston Consulting Group (BCG) predicts based on its research.

Women already spend more than 70% of consumer dollars worldwide, making them a powerful and influential part of the economy for businesses to consider and understand, says BCG.

Dr Marjolijn Dijksterhuis, director of the Women in Leadership programme at the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business, says the fallout from the global economic crisis could further count in women's favour as they look to achieve more senior positions in organisations.

She said: "The increasing complexity and uncertainty of business in a globalised world are waking us up to the limitations of traditional management paradigms.

"It is becoming clearer that the ability to lead people through change and towards cooperation and innovation has become essential to the success of organisations, and companies are now looking for leaders who can inspire that change. I believe women have a lot to offer in terms of these more people-orientated demands."

There are some encouraging signs of female entrepreneurship in South Africa. While the technology sector traditionally was dominated by males, more than 35% of the members of the recently-launched Silicon Cape initiative for innovation and technology are women.

However, this is not necessarily translating into entrepreneurs prepared to tap the venture capital markets for opportunities.

Brett Commaille from venture capital firm InVenFin says that less than 10% of the proposals they receive come from women and when women do pitch, they are often accompanied by a male business partner.

He says while it is difficult to generalise, in his experience he has seen that men are far more likely to jump into entrepreneurship early on, while women will tend to build up skills in the workplace before going on their own.

Commaille added: "I believe we will see far more woman entrepreneurs running their own businesses in a start-up stage as they see the successes of others and realise their potential. Our space needs more women entrepreneurs in early-stage businessses."

- Fin24.com