Search results for "women-owned businesses"

An institutional view on access to finance by Tanzanian women-owned enterprises

2017

We investigate the limited use of bank and microfinance loans by Tanzanian female entrepreneurs. Using survey data, we observe that female entrepreneurs mainly use informal sources to finance their businesses. We analyze how “perceptions” of gendered cognitive and normative institutions determine whether a female entrepreneur applies for a formal loan. Following results stand out: first, we find that high collateral requirements, interest rates and personal guarantee requirements make formal loans unattractive. Second, female entrepreneurs only apply when they expect to be successful. Since they “perceive” access to finance to be more problematic for women,female entrepreneurs are discourag…