The Importance of Mentorship and Community to Empower Women

On a global scale, women remain largely under-represented in the field of entrepreneurship. In Malaysia, despite making up approximately 49% of the population, female entrepreneurs are only estimated to make up 20% of the industry (based on registered entrepreneurs).

On top of that, securing financing remains a great challenge for female entrepreneurs, with less than 3% of global VC funding in 2019 going to female start-ups, with the number dropping further to 1% in 2020.

Despite this, in 2022 more women than ever started their own businesses, with twice as many businesses being started by women in the UK than in 2018. Female-led businesses continue to show great economic potential, with a BCG publication from 2018 noting that businesses founded by women ultimately deliver higher revenue—more than twice as much per dollar invested—than those founded by men, making women-owned companies better investments for financial backers.

On this episode of Enterprise Biz Bytes, we speak to Lean In Malaysia about their new Entrepreneurs Bootcamp 1.0 and how they’re trying to support more women in entrepreneurship. Helping us with this conversation are Alia Ainuddin, Lead for Lean In Malaysia’s Community Engagement team, and Shamila Ravindran, Managing Partner of Ravindran Advocates & Solicitors and Lean In Malaysia advisor.