Part I
Launching the Venture

Women pursue entrepreneurial opportunities for a variety of reasons. Research indicates that they tend to be driven by necessity rather than by opportunity to a greater extent than male entrepreneurs are, especially in developing countries. Both men and women tend to launch ventures related to their areas of expertise, mostly the result of previous employment or household work. They experience a large number of cultural, economic, and social obstacles (see Chapter 23 for a summary of the research findings). In this section we learn about the often-serendipitous process by which women entrepreneurs decide to launch their businesses and take the first steps. We hear from a group of Mexican women who focused on educational toys, a Tanzanian entrepreneur who saw an opportunity in offering credit to other aspiring entrepreneurs, an Indian biotechnology entrepreneur, a Turkish designer and fabricator of organic apparel, and a Brazilian woman who became passionate about coffee.