Female entrepreneurship rate in terms of geographical location

Abstract

PURPOSE: The current state of the world's economies and the pursuit of sustainable development goals imply attempts to undertake considerations related both to the structure and ageing of the population, as well as to verify the importance of the degree of health and gender, which, as it turns out, has a significant impact on the economic activity of individual national nations, and even within them, of individual communities and, consequently, of the economic regions of individual countries. Hence, it is female gender, linked to a geographical coefficient, i.e., the region of economic activity, that is the focus of the considerations presented in this research.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: In order to realise the primary objective, secondary data were analysed by calculating the female entrepreneurship rate in Poland over 11 years (2010-2020) by region. The region of Wielkopolska was selected for further research, due to its significance and importance for the development of the country, in which own research was conducted on a sample of N=100 women running their own business.

FINDINGS: The own research identified several important determinants for the geo-economic development of Wielkopolska in the case of enterprises managed by women. The most important of these include the range of business activities, access to finance, its diversification depending on the development phase of the enterprise, and the number of people employed. The calculated coefficient of female entrepreneurship over a period of eleven years made it possible to determine the degree of economic development of the Wielkopolska region in comparison with other voivodships and indicated the main opportunities and threats in this area.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS: The identification of leading geo-econo- graphical regions makes it possible to identify gaps in the development of other parts of both the country and the geographical region with similar parameters to those studied.

ORIGINALITY: The self-reported research conducted among entrepreneurial women in Poland in the Greater Poland region made it possible to provide answers to two fundamental questions, what is the current state, and what are its determinants.