“Only 3 percent of Myanmar’s 26 million women run businesses, most of them micro and small enterprises, while most men are in medium-sized enterprises," she said.

According to recent research, this gender gap, if not addressed by businesses and investors, risks becoming the norm after the pandemic passes. 

Women in business also have less access to bank loans than their male counterparts, Daw Aye Aye Win said. According to a survey by the UN’s International Labour Organization, bank loans for marketing and technological expansion at businesses run by women accounted for 1.5pc and 1.75pc, respectively.

Small businesses in Myanmar tend to be founded on personal or family funds, with follow-on capital coming from grants and equity. On average, men receive a disproportionate amount of equity funding compared to women, according to a recent report commissioned by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation (SPF), and developed by Emerging Markets Entrepreneurs, Support Her Enterprise and the foundation.

The survey said 86 percent of companies were started with their own income or savings, or with money from friends or family, and 57pc went on to raise equity, convertible debt, or grants. 

It also showed that while women accounted for 43pc of equity-backed enterprises, women accounted for only 30pc when weighted by gender.

Benefits of including women

Despite the data, both genders believe that having a focus on women in business is to their advantage, for example in sales, branding and marketing representation.

The survey, which seeks to develop a comprehensive understanding of the gender gap in Myanmar, found that concentrating marketing efforts on women could have additional benefits, ranging from enabling businesses to connect better with female customers in niche markets to gaining more insight into developing products and services for women. 

Including more women could also strengthen the culture and productivity of the workplace, it said. 

In ASEAN, companies with women on the board of directors were found to enjoy higher returns and performed 50pc better on return on equity than those with no women board members, according to an International Finance Corporation review of six other ASEAN countries. 

Yet, just 35pc of Myanmar firms have women in their ownership structures, and only 41pc have women in higher management. 

“If Myanmar is to benefit from serving female consumers, it will need to close the gender gap and increase women’s representation in [higher management],” the SPF report said. 

The foundation conducted a second survey of 104 businesses owned and operated by women in rural areas, including 40 customers of Ezay, an e-commerce and logistics company that helps shops restock via a mobile app, and 64 customers of Microfinance Delta International Co Ltd. 

Almost all the women said they wanted to grow their businesses, ranking income growth first, followed by supporting their families and their children’s health and education.

Lack of planning

One of the reasons for the gender gap was that 92pc of women do not separate business and household money, and only 73pc track business expenses, indicating a lack of planning, the survey said. 

Despite 40pc of respondents being customers of Ezay, 98pc said they used their smartphones only to communicate with customers, not for tracking their expenses.

The results indicate a clear lack of understanding among women of the technology available to track expenses and inventory, which could be why women have trouble getting access to credit.

While most of those surveyed had only lower secondary educations and about half had only primary educations, they recognised the need for more training in financial and business management skills to grow their businesses.

The survey revealed that almost all of the businesswomen had succeeded in maintaining a positive cash flow, that 64pc were managing their businesses independent of their husbands, and 68pc made high-level business decisions. 

The few women who had received loans showed greater agency and personal development. Of the 68pc who said they made high-level decisions, just 56pc had access to formal financing and 13pc had received no funding. 

The main difference between the Ezay and Delta customers was that all of the latter had accessed formal loans, compared to just 25pc of the former.

Ezay said many of its customers were far away from microcredit agents, and their limited accounts made it hard for loan officers to assess their creditworthiness. 

Growth potential

To bridge the gender divide and elevate businesswomen in Myanmar, the SPF report recommended that women find mentors and speak to investors to gain insights and build support networks. 

“Women may find themselves at a disadvantage when raising equity investment and should be aware of this added challenge. A clear narrative of the company’s goals, coupled with historic and projected performance data, should equip them with the means to build better relationships and access more funds.

“Understanding the company’s mission and its commercial value proposition is key, and having women in decision-making positions will better prepare the company to think about solutions that target women,” the report said.

It also urged investors to consider the challenges of start-ups in addressing the gender gap in Myanmar and executing their strategies in terms of finding, training and retaining talent. 

Accelerator programmes for start-ups should also consider gender, as they may unwittingly exacerbate the gender gap. “The overly popular ‘pitch day’ is well-suited to well-educated men who are used to speaking English in front of large audiences, while Myanmar culture does not prepare women in the same way for such events,” it said.