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Women entrepreneurs of Bangladesh face strict terms and conditions, high interest rate, and collateral requirements while requesting access to bank finance. This paper investigates the role of banks in promoting micro and small businesses owned by women in Bangladesh in terms of access to bank finance and collateral requirement. Bangladeshi women entrepreneurs were chosen as there are surge in women entrepreneurs in the nation. The study used a close‐ended questionnaire to collect data based on stratified sampling and data health was ensured using the Harman's single factor indicating no presence of common method bias. The sample consists of 60 respondents of pilot study and 150 respondents surveyed by trained enumerators resulting a final sample size of 210. The data were collected based on primary sources from the entire Bangladesh represented by the eight divisions of the country namely Dhaka, Barishal, Chittagong, Khulna, Mymensingh, Rajshahi, Rangpur, and Sylhet. The data were analyzed based on the binary logistic regression model using the IBM SPSS Statistics. Empirical results indicate that women entrepreneurs can be granted bank finance only by the private commercial banks without pledging collateralized assets according to the rules of the central bank of Bangladesh provided they offer personal guarantee, social security and group guarantee and if they default on the loans, security will be used for loan repayment, and they will be deprived of further loan facilities. The findings of the study will help add value to the current literatures and the outcomes will be helpful to the concerned parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This feminist research explores how superstition is used by in‐law's family to subordinate women business‐owners in a highly patriarchal developing context. Whereas the exploration of gender subordination regarding women's entrepreneurship is almost exclusively confined to developed nations, little is known regarding the way women are subjugated in managing their small businesses in a patriarchal developing nation. This research generates data by conducting a case study on a woman's business in Bangladesh. This study yields unique insights by unfolding a specific form of superstition that attempts to restrain a woman from continuing her small business. The paper reveals that the male relative caused a severe adverse impact on the personal life and business of the woman by employing superstition. With particular reference to superstition, this feminist study substantially extends the theoretical understanding of gender subordination within the context of small businesses of women in a highly patriarchal developing nation. The research strongly suggests policymakers to consider familial issues of women business‐owners in designing programmes to empower them effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, 'bottom of the pyramid' (BoP) initiatives - from Grameen Phone Ladies and Solar Sister, to Women First and Living Goods - have captured increasing attention, not only in corporate boardrooms where the desire for untapped revenue streams looms large, but also in the arenas of development policy and practice, where entrepreneurship is celebrated as a way to repurpose 'informal' and/or 'subsistence' workers through new forms of private sector engagement. Based on fieldwork with BoP schemes in Bangladesh and South Africa, and cases drawn from other regions, this paper explores how development is outsourced through the figure of the BoP entrepreneur, the 'poor' woman who travels door-to-door delivering a range of branded manufactured goods across the 'retail black spots' of developing countries. These women are actively converted into entrepreneurial subjects through a set of ideological and material practices that aim to produce and hone the requisite traits of industry, market discipline and entrepreneurial distinction to succeed in global business; subject positions that can bring tangible rewards to those who successfully assume them. However, the process of outsourcing development to a reservoir of 'informal labour' unsettles BoP claims of 'inclusive capitalism', as an ethos of meritocracy and individual responsibility not only deflects the responsibility for development onto the poor themselves, but remakes their subjectivities in service to global brands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notions of social entrepreneurship and social enterprise have been the emerging trends in the world today, specifically in developing countries. We draw on social network theory to explore causes and situations that encourage individuals to engage in social activities in an entrepreneurial manner. This article investigates the impact of business ties and political ties on SEIs and how gender influences the casual relationships. Linear regression is used to analyze the responses obtained from 300 general populations across three developing countries including Bangladesh, India, and Pakistan. The findings show that business ties positively affect SEIs, but political ties are negatively related to SEIs. Furthermore, our results indicate that the gender influences both the positive impact of business ties on SEIs, which is greater for males, and the negative impact of political ties, which is stronger for females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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