| Summary: | Women entrepreneurship is a force to be reckoned with. Women in business are commonly found all over
the country and they help to create vibrant economic activities in domestic arena. This study focuses on
the characteristics of 50 women entrepreneurs in the state of Penang, Malaysia. Among others, we find
that many of them are stay-at-home married women with children. Therefore, they have to juggle and find
balance between family life and their business. It is interesting to note that 84 percent come from families
with entrepreneurial experiences. Therefore, it is fair to say that this kind of exposure has cultivated interest
among these women to become entrepreneurs themselves. Further, family support has been one of the
important factors that encourage these women to venture into businesses. However, despite their involvement
in business, 50 percent of our respondents have not attended any training and courses on entrepreneurship.
It seems that they rely more on advices from family members on issues related to their business compared
to formal or government institutions. This is probably due to their reliance on personal savings and family
sources of capital in embarking into the businesses such that institutional involvement is minimal in charting
the direction of their businesses though they are aware of various kinds of financial assistance provided by
the government. Hence, even in a smaller scale, women entrepreneurs are increasingly creating wealth for
the nation while simultaneously caring for their families.
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