These are the differences between women and men’s view on entrepreneurship
SPP, a prominent group in occupational pensions and pension savings within the Nordic countries, commissioned Novus to conduct a survey which aims to understand and support female entrepreneurs as well as women in general in entrepreneurship.
Hjalmar Strid, Client Advisor for Novus and responsible for the project:
– The process started with SPP reaching out to me with the idea about a survey regarding female entrepreneurship, in connection to the upcoming International Women’s Day. All of us sat down and thought about what areas to focus on and highlight. SPP has a strong position on the issue and wants people to see their passion about the subject. We all had questions that we wanted answered in order to better support women in self-employment. After many conversations back and forth, we managed to come up with a good questionnaire that we later sent out.
Rickard Ydrenäs, in charge of press- and PR manager at SPP:
– During the process, when we prepared a pitch and press release for the media, I discussed with Hjalmar and inquired him to fact check the press release. He has been a great support in the process and a tremendous help in regards of avoiding mistakes in the form of factual errors or errors of interpretation. In this survey, we wanted to know the significant differences between genders, and Hjalmar presented these both for this survey and previous Novus surveys. This was done to find fresh news perspectives. We are very pleased with the collaboration with Novus – a high level of competence and easy to work with.
The fear of taking the first step is hindering
The survey reveals multiple interesting results. About 27 percent disclosed that the reason for not being self-employed is the fear of acting or taking the necessary first step, while 22 percent pointed to a lack of economic resources. There were no significant differences between genders in this regard. It also emerged that only 14 percent of women who do not run their own business have considered doing so, while twice as many men, 29 percent, may consider starting their own business even though they are not currently doing so.
– We are very pleased with the result. We can use it to create attention and influence public opinion on our issues in the matter. We not only use the results in media pitches with individual journalists, but also in press releases. This survey is used in the podcast “Pensioner- och förmåner” (Pensions and its benefits), in an episode by editor Åsa Wallin. Its content was used as background in the manuscript for their interview with our CEO Jenny Rundbladh and savings economist Shoka Åhrman. An interview which was published on International Women’s Day, says Rickard Ydrenäs.
Hjalmar Strid also views the results with a positive outlook.
– I think the results give a clear insight into men and women’s different mindsets regarding entrepreneurship. There is a stronger desire among the male population to start their own business. Women on the other hand did not show as much interest to the same extent. We could also identify that the risk-taking linked to investments was somewhat higher among men. Willingness and courage are two cornerstones then it comes to owning a business, and now we know a little more about what is needed to help women in this regard.
