Female entrepreneurship: informality challenges public policies

Agency Brazil - At the fruit stand in front of their house, at the popcorn cart in front of the church, with clothes and perfumes in the trunk of their car, at the hair salon they opened in their backyard. In their daily routine, informal women entrepreneurs keep one eye on the future, on how to improve the business they created for themselves, and with the other, they are attentive to the clock so as not to be late for the time their child gets out of school.

According to researchers and public managers, female entrepreneurship is driven by mothers (70%), has an average turnover of approximately R$ 2 thousand and an informality situation that challenges public policies in the country. This Tuesday (18), the government promoted the panel "Voices of Female Entrepreneurship: Connecting Knowledge and Actions" and heard from experts and authorities that the path of facilitating credit lines and enabling training are fundamental to effectively improve the scenario.

Evils

Professor Daiane Batista, from the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA), is a researcher on the topic of "Life trajectories and businesses of Black people in Brazil." She was one of the speakers at the event. "We identify all these problems in the entrepreneurial process for women." For Daiane, one of the main motivations is that most women seek entrepreneurship because they have been oppressed in formal work.

Women also become entrepreneurs, according to the researcher, because they are mothers and need more time to care for their children. "They perceive that the flexibility of entrepreneurship will allow for more childcare."

Among the considerations, Daiane Batista points out that Black women, who make up the majority of Brazil's population in percentage terms, are more likely to be in informal employment and to have businesses that are opened in their own homes.

“Entrepreneurs need to constantly activate their own creativity and develop solutions to make their initiatives viable without money.”

Motivations

Another researcher, Caroline Moreira de Aguiar, head of education and projects at the Instituto da Rede Mulher Empreendedora, presented a national survey on Tuesday that highlights some of the challenges women face when trying to start a business. Access to credit and financial management remain the main challenges identified in the research.

The difficulty of balancing personal and professional life also impacts business. One fact is that, within the sample surveyed (of 2.010 people), more than 70% were mothers.

“They start to undertake motivated by post-motherhood, or because they left the job market, or because they see entrepreneurship as a way to have flexible hours,” he explains.

Another factor that the research indicated is that women, regardless of whether they are mothers, are also the people who care for the elderly, other people, and take care of the home.

"What we've noticed is that managing the business is added to all these other caregiving roles." That's why there are so few hours in the day to manage "all these work shifts, which we call double and triple shifts."

She says that women start their own businesses without any financial investment. "Often, they use their own resources and even the support network they already have."

Another finding from the research is that these revenues don't exceed much more than R$ 2. "She ends up in a situation where everything she earns is basically reinvested in the business, preventing it from growing. So, she remains almost stagnant."

The research also shows that the difficulties are greater for Black and mixed-race women. "In general, they feel more overwhelmed."

“It’s to survive”

The Minister for Women, Cida Gonçalves, says that female entrepreneurs create businesses to survive.

“We need to ensure that women entrepreneurs have access to finances and all resources, and can still sell their products in markets (internal and even external).

According to Cida, the federal government has invested resources so that women can create their own businesses and gain training with various partners in the states, municipalities and with support from the Executive.

For her, the country's established inequalities are the biggest challenges. "Women in the Amazon region face one challenge, and women in the Northeast face another. Quilombolas and Indigenous peoples face others. Wherever there is inequality, that's where we need to invest," she added.

Federal credit

The executive secretary of the Ministry of Entrepreneurship, Microenterprise and Small Business, Tadeu Alencar, considers that the decree with the National Strategy for Women's Entrepreneurship was an important step to facilitate access for women entrepreneurs. Check the legislation.

Alencar mentioned Procred 360 financing, which is part of the Acredita programThis is a line of credit offered by public banks, cooperatives, and private financial institutions that allows for financing up to 30% of the previous year's revenue.

Offers for women

"When it comes to women-owned and -led businesses, this percentage increases to 50%, which also allows for credit financing offers to women to be more prestigious," says the secretary.

This amount applies to individual micro-entrepreneurial companies and micro-enterprises with revenue of up to R$ 360. He believes that minority groups need attention, such as women from quilombola communities, indigenous communities, rural areas, family farming, and those from the peripheries, so they can have access.

The minister drew attention to the fact that, in general, the availability of credit for women is always much lower.

“When conducting credit risk assessments, it’s generally assumed that women have less protection when it comes to making payments. What we see in practice is that women are much better payers than men,” she stated.