Factors of Women Entrepreneurs' success in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Bangladesh

Main objectives: The success of women entrepreneurship depends on different social and economic aspects. The success of women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh is also very challenging especially in the southern part of the country. This study aimed to investigate the key factors affecting the success of women entrepreneurs in SMEs in Faridpur city. Background problems: Lots of studies and discussions have been taken place regarding the role of women entrepreneurs across the world. As well as the success of women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh is also very challenging especially in the southern part of the country. Novelty: The study took into consideration the broad factors contributing to women entrepreneurship and applied such factors in particularly in the Faridpur district. Research Method: This study was conducted on 67 women entrepreneurs (N=67) of Faridpur city using a convenient sampling technique. The collected data were processed and then analyzed using SPSS. Structural equation modelling was applied to test hypotheses. Findings: The study revealed a bunch of factors that affect the success of women entrepreneurs among these psychological and motivational factors affect significantly and positively the success of women entrepreneurs in SMEs. Contribution: The survey results also show that women entrepreneurs face a range of challenges including financial, technological, lack of proper training, family and mentor supporting, competent staff, and networking for doing business in Bangladesh. Conclusions: The descriptive statistics, correlation, and regression analysis were carried out to identify the important determinants of the success of women entrepreneurs. The implications of this study are elaborated along with some recommendations.