Abstract

The intention of this research is to provide more evidence related to women entrepreneurs by selecting an unexplored sample coming from two different regions: The Middle East and the Western Europe countries. It aims to explore the profile of women entrepreneurs and to further investigate the impact of their socio-demographic profile and their individual subjective perception on their preference for bank loans.

The sample was composed of 47 and 46 women entrepreneurs operating in small and medium (SMEs) business activities, respectively in 10 Middle East and 10 Western Europe countries. Results show that the majority of women entrepreneurs in both regions are between 26 and 31 years old, they have a high education level, they have already received a training support and accumulate an important professional experience. The majority of women entrepreneurs also avoid using bank loans. However, women entrepreneurs in the Middle East have more conflict between their entrepreneurial activity and their family duties. Regressions results show that socio-demographic variables of women entrepreneurs, such as the age, the education level, the training support and the professional experience affect positively and significantly the use of bank loans in both regions. Other variables related to family issues such as the marital status, the family size and the family responsibilities provide a negative and significant impact. The subjective perception variables of women entrepreneurs such as the risk tolerance, the self-confidence and the confidence in banks affect negatively on the use of bank loans.

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