Stefanie Yuen Thio
Head, Corporate
TSMP Law Corporation

THE marketplace loses many potential shining stars because of the intense pressure that women (and to an extent, society) place on themselves.

There's so much pressure to be the perfect mom. Women need to, first and foremost, believe that they can have it all. They do not have to sacrifice career for marriage, or entrepreneurship for motherhood. They need to understand that a balanced life involves being able to effectively manage all the many aspects that make them special, and make them women. I have met too many would-be successful women who have thrown in the towel on their careers because they thought they had no choice.

Next, women need to leverage on their relative advantages. Great entrepreneurial ideas come from thinking outside the box, and women need to give full rein to their imaginations which will be very different from those of male businessmen. As commercial buying power shifts more and more in the direction of the double-X chromosome, women are better-placed to know what women want.

Our policies and incentives need to empower women to act on this. Instead of placing the burden of expectations on the woman to manage the household, bring up the children and be a good wife, child-rearing should be a two-parent affair. Rather than give more maternity leave to women (which just disincentivises employers from hiring ladies), we should spread the leave between both parents. This will enable the father to develop an early bond with the child, which will in turn help him to be more involved in the parenting process, building a stronger family unit as well.

Tan Kok Leong
Principal
TKL Consulting

WOMEN are basically innovative, adaptive, responsive, and are great communicators. They are socially responsible, highly ethical and environmentally conscious. There are, however, less female-led businesses in the world due probably to social attitudes, historical prejudices and lack of supportive relationships as business has all along been a male-dominated arena.

Women's businesses need better support from the government and the community if the number of self-employed women is to rise. More contracts and in bigger size could be awarded. More network facilities could be provided. Better terms of financing could be considered. What women need to do, perhaps, is to be more ambitious.

David Leong
Managing Director
PeopleWorldwide Consulting Pte Ltd

FEMALE enterprise is an uphill struggle to begin with and for them, it is really a case of unequal entrepreneurship. For billions of the world's women, their lives are already intertwined with a web of constraints, limitations, obligations and sacrifices and for many they live in a certain pre-determined pattern of lives and are subject to a certain order of things.

There is a significant and systematic gap existing in the entrepreneurial involvement and business ownership of men compared to women - the reasons are obvious as they clearly lack the opportunities in many societal contexts. These cases are more prominent in Asian than Western societies. Women generally lag behind men in terms of pay, promotion, benefits and access to opportunities. They are underrepresented in politics and management and are obviously less seen in most boardrooms.

While the struggle of women's groups in every country is unique, increasingly, they are participating in market economies and even in politics where societies tend to be more matriarchal - like in the Philippines and Indonesia. A Gloria (Arroyo) or a Megawati represents liberation of women's power in those countries and, within a strategic realm, it allows for empowerment of women and it elevates them to equal status as men. What is really needed for empowerment of women are role models to show the world those women folk are equal to the task and can rise to any occasion. What is needed is an enabling and encouraging environment that foster women folk to become entrepreneurs by showing them they can do it through role models like Ho Ching of Temasek, Olivia Lum of Hyflux or even Lim Hwee Hua who has joined the ranks of Singapore's top political leadership as a full minister.

Cathlyn Leyau
Managing Director
FIL Skin, Body & Spa Intelligence

WOMEN-OWNED enterprises currently play an important role in Apec member economy development. Well-educated women entrepreneurs have the potential to significantly impact trade competitiveness, job creation and economic growth, but a supportive environment toward women entrepreneurs needs to be fostered. Stringent social traditions and cultural values impede opportunities for women's entrepreneurship. Moreover, women bear the double burden of professional and household responsibilities, which often constitute a barrier to women entrepreneurship and affect their business performance. In addition, while many incentives for women entrepreneurs exist, moving beyond personal loans from family and friends and accessing capital is a critical challenge on the road to success for many entrepreneurs.

Competition for the best rates, along with easy application processes, make it attractive for women in business to obtain the loans they need for their business ventures. More training programmes that are flexible and not too time-consuming should be developed to accommodate women's multiple responsibilities. Women should be encouraged to put their business ideas into practice by establishing incentive mechanisms. Success stories of women as entrepreneurs should be actively promoted through seminars and media events to further strengthen public awareness of women as role models.

That said, women should go all out to find richer challenges, take on more risks and test the full range of their talents.

E H Lim
CEO
Avi-Tech Electronics Ltd

ONE of the reasons for the fewer number of women entrepreneurs is the fact that women are still the primary care-givers in the household, despite the availability of domestic help. Support on the home front is important for women who venture into business. The attitudes of husbands may have to change as entrepreneurship is not a nine-to-five job and many sacrifices may have to be made, particularly in the start-up years. While men have many opportunities for networking which is important in order to be a successful entrepreneur, there are fewer such networking opportunities for women. Although there are associations for professional women, there should be more informal groups for women entrepreneurs as it is only through interaction with individuals who are facing the same challenges and obstacles, can ideas be exchanged.

Eric Hoh
Vice-President, Asia South Region and Head of Global Accounts, Asia-Pacific and Japan geography
Symantec

THE evolution of society has impacted the role of women today. No longer are women compelled to manage only the home or children; they now have opportunities to enter the workforce and are demonstrating their value to business every day, regardless of industry.

It took a while for a woman's role to evolve from homemaker to wage earner, but I believe we'll see a much faster shift in women evolving from wage-earner to entrepreneur. The improved Government-Paid Maternity Leave scheme is a good incentive as it is applicable for self-employed women who meet the criteria, but more initiatives such as Spring's entrepreneurship training and grants are needed to attract women to be their own bosses.

It takes two hands to clap and women too should be proactive in seeking out new avenues to learn entrepreneurial skills and identify business opportunities. They should look to attend seminars or courses, network with successful entrepreneurs and not hold back on seizing opportunities. Women who want to succeed as entrepreneurs should keep persevering and striving to achieve their goals.

Darren Thomson
President and Chief Executive Officer
Manulife (Singapore) Pte Ltd

THE second point should be relevant to any person with an entrepreneurial spirit, irrespective of gender.

The spirit of the entrepreneur has no gender bias. What precludes or deters women developing and building their business or career is influenced more by forces of nature as well as societies' expectations of the role of women.

The modern sociological environment in which we live, provides a greater opportunity for men to play the entrepreneurial role simply because the relationship between risk and return is balanced in their favour.

In essence, the solution is helping women manage the risk and creating more time and opportunity in numerous areas. I would suggest the two most important are education and financial support. If I were to offer the government advice then incentives need to be in the form of grants, subsidised loans and supported training.

Dora Hoan
Group CEO
Best World International Ltd

THROUGHOUT history, women's participation in society have always been seen in the light of their socially and culturally-prescribed roles as nurturers of the home and family. Therefore, in looking at their capability to successfully make it as entrepreneurs, the same priorities come into play. If we seek to assess the situation, as to why women, particularly in Singapore society, are hesitant to go out there and actively engage in entrepreneurship, I can cite two most prevalent reasons.

First, it will cost them too much to go out there and take the plunge. She either has to pay for very expensive childcare facilities or pay so much to hire a housemaid. Given this limitation, the woman does not have much of an option. To address this, I believe that increased subsidy for childcare or the waiving of the levy in hiring domestic helpers will encourage more participation by women in entrepreneurial activities.

The second and the real issue here are the 'gender-coloured' biases against women prevalent to this day. Women, more than men, are held up to closer scrutiny and pressures in society as a result of these cultural stereotypes. I am convinced that we need a more conscious effort through education and media to change this social mindset. I know that is easier said than done but, at least, let it take place in the supposedly more enlightened sectors. Whenever the media conducts the 'success story' interview, I could not help taking note of the tendency there to always look for the 'flaw in the successful woman' - 'what must have been the price she had to pay for this success?', or, 'she is so successful, surely her family life must have suffered as a result'. This stereotypical thinking has only served to hold the woman in bondage to fear of societal pressure that would often impose on their willingness to become an active contributor to wealth creation.

As one who has taken her lessons from these same experiences, I have this to say: we need no more policy other than to be true to the equality of the rights of every individual.

Ryan Lee
Chief Executive Officer
Xmi Pte Ltd

SINGAPOREAN women have always been very independent and driven. To date, there are already many successful female entrepreneurs on our little island. We should encourage more home-based businesses to start and educate the masses on how to generate alternative income from home. With less start-up risk involved, more people will be willing to consider the option of venturing out. Like how we started Xmi, I am sure many businesses today was spawned from a simple living-room idea. While there are ways to encourage entrepreneurship amongst females, obstacles will surface for anyone, regardless of gender.

This article was first published in The Business Times.