Women Entrepreneurs Are Confident and Capable - So Why Are Systems Holding Them Back?

Who comes to mind when you imagine a confident entrepreneur? Perhaps a Silicon Valley tech visionary or a sharp-suited executive in a bustling urban center. Yet, shift your focus to the Global Majority, and a more powerful—and overlooked—image emerges: women entrepreneurs driving sustainable businesses with determination and ingenuity. 

There's a credit gap, not a confidence gap, limiting women entrepreneurs.

New research from the Strive Women program, led by CARE and supported by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth, shows that 96% of women entrepreneurs in countries as diverse as Pakistan, Peru, and Vietnam are confident in leading and expanding their businesses, with 87% actively pursuing growth. Among 2,000 surveyed, 9 out of 10 women entrepreneurs set clear business goals and of those who did, 97% believe they can achieve them. Women entrepreneurs are exceptionally confident and show a strong commitment to reinvest in their communities and adapt their businesses to market changes. 

However, one in three of these women entrepreneurs finds it difficult to access the critical formal financial resources needed to grow her business. Financial institutions repeatedly miss the opportunity to support women entrepreneurs as credible, growth-oriented clients and economic drivers with immense potential to catalyze local markets. Instead, they sideline them as part of corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts. This is costly: by some estimates, providing equal business opportunities to women could add up to $6 trillion to the global economy.

Challenges faced by women entrepreneurs

• Access to Finance: Nearly 27% of women entrepreneurs report inadequate access to financing. But their needs go beyond funding alone: 60% cite a demand for lower interest rates, while many identify issues with small loan sizes and inflexible repayment schedules. Systematic undervaluation of women and mistrust of financial institutions further restrict their ability to scale.
• Support Networks: A third of respondents (34%) lack access to trusted peer networks that provide strategic guidance, emotional support, and critical advice. Formal networking or peer business groups often occur in male-dominated industries, and these networks are vital for providing mentorship, advice, and access to business opportunities.
• Digital Divide: Digital literacy is another major hurdle, with 33% of women expressing limited confidence in navigating digital tools. This gap reflects structural inequalities in education and technological access, ultimately slowing business growth in an increasingly tech-driven economy.

Women-centered design is good business - for everyone

In countries where CARE works, women face structural barriers to education, finance and market opportunities. Women entrepreneurs need solutions that alleviate these barriers: solutions such as accessible, appropriately sized loans, networking opportunities and digital solutions that reflect their realities. The research calls for a paradigm shift. Women-centered design (WCD) for financial services is a savvy investment in a client segment that already demonstrates impressive returns. Building on the foundations of human-centered design, this approach involves three key stages:

1. Actively listening to women. This means discovering their barriers, needs and wants, and ideating new ways to serve them. Barriers might include:
   • Laws and political systems that disadvantage women.
   • Harmful stereotypes and assumptions.
   • Limited access to finance due to no or limited credit history and restrictive requirements for collateral, land ownership and/or male guarantors.
2. Testing products and services with women. This co-design process starts with aligning with our partners on our vision of impact and requires continuous collaboration over several months through a series of design workshops and sprints. We build rapid prototypes and pitch adaptations to existing and potential clients to understand their preferences and what would make them say “yes.”

THMFI credit staff in Green loan prototype workshop. Photo by Tran Hoang Quan, CARE in Vietnam.

3. Iterating based on their feedback. Success looks like a desirable, feasible and viable product which women entrepreneurs love. This women-centered design approach has proved successful. Repayment rates on loans designed this way were higher than average, with 100% repayment on one loan product in Pakistan.  

Women-centered design doesn’t exclude men but rather integrates the realities of women’s lives and the barriers they face into financial service design, strengthening market systems by fostering competition, innovation and efficiency.  This approach expands market choices for women, drives economic growth and enhances profitability, which benefits everyone. As Ana Cecilia Akamine, CEO of Strive Women partner Financiera Confianza, says “[Women] are reliable payers, making them a valuable and underserved market. Investing in women is not only a social priority but a sound business decision." 

Breaking through blind spots

To build market systems that genuinely work for women entrepreneurs, we need to change the narrative: women are not defined by disenfranchisement; they are confident, capable and attuned to their business needs.  By challenging stereotypes, investing in data-driven insights and engaging women as partners—not just beneficiaries—we take critical steps toward unlocking their full potential as leaders and changemakers. 

So, when you picture a confident entrepreneur, think of women like Saima, Maria Jose, and Chanh —resilient innovators redefining success and demanding systems that work as hard for them as they do for their businesses.