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Federal State Autonomous Education

Institution of Higher Education

"National Research University "Higher School of Economics"

Faculty of Business and Management

Chair of General and Strategic Management

Direction 38.04.02“Management " Business Development Strategies:

Management and Consulting

The topic of the master's thesis: «Women's entrepreneurship: A comparative study or Russia and Niger»

Master Thesis

Moscow - 2020

Abstract

Women were previously not engaged in creating businesses, however today we see that they are more and more involved in entrepreneurship but with limited opportunities compare to men which represent some of the factors or challenges that hamper them to be engaged in entrepreneurship at that same level as men. This is a comparative study of women entrepreneurship in Russia and is Niger. The main objective of this study was to investigate and compare the opportunities female entrepreneurship have and the obstacles they faced in 2 different economies (Russia and Niger) to develop practical implications for them in both countries. The study answered four research questions, what are the opportunities and obstacles of female entrepreneurship in Russia, and Niger? What are the main reasons of involvement in entrepreneurial activities in both countries? What are the main sources of financial support in Russia and Niger? What are the managerial Implications for Russian and Nigerien women-led businesses? What can women entrepreneurs in both countries learn from each other? The study utilized quantitative and qualitative data such as: Interviews, open sources, and a survey to collect data with a sample of 250 participants from Niger and 70 from Russia. The data were analyzed using the statistical package for social science (SPSS) software. In the results of the study new findings emerge. Findings on Russia shows that Network contacts, Start-up Incubators and accelerators, Professional Seminars and Workshops for awareness are among the non-financial support as opportunities for women and some financial one, see page (46-48). However, the results also revealed that the lack of financial support is still a hindrance to women entrepreneurs. Cultural prejudices, fear of failure and success, financial literacy, and corruption mostly in Niger are among the obstacles. This study contributes to the ongoing literature on the field of our study in Russia and Niger, some managerial implications were giving according to the current situation of women entrepreneurs in concerned countries, Study has also emphasized that Russia has more favourable economic conditions, environment, and laws that favor women in to starting businesses as compare to the current situation in Niger and finally, this study has informed the governments and other relevant agencies and institutions in both countries of the insufficiency in their contributions to female entrepreneurship so that they can redouble their efforts to create an enabling environment and conditions for women to become more involved in successful start-ups.

KEYWORDS: Entrepreneurship, Women entrepreneurship, Russia, Obstacles, Niger, Opportunities

Dedication

I dedicate my work first, to Allah Soubhanahu Wa Ta'ala, to my mother Fatouma Sina and her sister Diama Sina for their unconditional support in all stages of my life.

Acknowledgements

*I would like to thank my Supervisor with whom I have been working for the past 2 years and who has helped me a lot.

Dr. Yuriy Valerievich Timofeyev

Assistant Professor of Management at National Research University Higher School of Economics.

*My big thanks to our department Staffs, our Teachers and Colleagues.

*My thanks to all Women who directly or indirectly participated in this study mostly Veronika, Nadya, Svetlana, Victoria Ocran etc.

* My thanks to Emmanuel Demah

*A big thanks to my home professor Amadou Maiga Hamidou Psycho-sociologist of organizations.

*To my family and friends

1. Introduction

Creating businesses have been globally recognized as a developmental and progressive idea for the world (Scott, 1986). For this reason, entrepreneurship is seen as a vital element for globalization and for creating various opportunities for future potential entrepreneurs (Mitra, 2002). Furthermore, entrepreneurship due to the multi-faceted economic pressures is not close to any genders as it used to be in the antiquity where it was driven mostly by men only. Now Women revealed and realised that to be independent, to become useful in their family, for the society and for the economy of their countries need to work side by side with Men (Marlow, 2002). Education has given Women a certain confidence, courage, and power to engage in new ventures. This is a comparative study about women entrepreneurship. Russia, one of the emergent countries where in the soviet period, the socialist ideology did not encouraged entrepreneurship since most people worked for the government and most of the firms belong to the government too. However, the dissolution of the Soviet Union gave many opportunities to people such as entrepreneurship. Niger, one of the west Africa richest countries in natural resources but unfortunately which is still underdeveloped due to a bad governance, is a country where engaging in new businesses is a necessity more than a will in order to improve living conditions and supporting families is driven by men and women but mostly by women. As two different countries with economic, legal, environmental, and political differences, it is relevant to focus on the opportunities and obstacles of women entrepreneurs in these countries (Russia and Niger) in a comparative study.

Motivation and Research Problems

The objective of this research was relevant because it has led us to study and made a comparison on the opportunities of female entrepreneurship and the obstacles faced by women entrepreneurs in 2 different economies (Russia and Niger. Indeed, my motivations for doing research on this subject are many.

First, I have had the entrepreneurial spirit for years and seek of creating my own company in the field of catering, pastry, and wedding organization. I would like to combine this (3) complementary activities which in my opinion, I would have succeeded without any problem but thanks to my course work I wrote in first year of my master studies on “factors affecting the decision to become entrepreneurs”, I understood that to create a business and succeed, many factors must be taken into account but many entrepreneurs ignore all this consequently they face many problems because they did not take into account all these factors. The author (Wennekers et al, 2002) identify, the level of development of the economy, demography, engineering, culture, and association as determinants of entrepreneurship. In comparison, “(Giannetti and Simonov, 2004)” highlight 3 types of factors that would affect entrepreneurial activity, namely: individual characteristics (age, wealth, salary and certain demographic characteristics) ; economic characteristics of the region where the individual lives (unemployment rate, per capita income) social and environmental characteristics (education, religion, social status of entrepreneurs). The results of my research on the article of my master studies have thus revealed, that it is not enough to have the intention to create a business, but we must take into account all the factors that facilitate or hinder the achievement, so it is important and necessary that every person with the will to embark on entrepreneurship must especially take into account individual and macroeconomic factors. In the following paragraph, we will state our research problems.

First, continue with the previous research on the reasons for participation in entrepreneurial activities, market entry strategies, opportunities, obstacles, etc. to contribute to this and to provide new information if possible, based on the results of my research and analysis. Secondly, little analysis and precision have been made on the financial support of female entrepreneurship specifically for Russia and more on Niger. In addition, although Russia is in the lead with women in the top management, it has one of the lowest ranks with women founders of start-ups. In addition, few articles are available and little research has been done on the possibilities of women to undertake on the situation in Niger. Finally, there is no research which has made a comparison on female entrepreneurship in these countries (Russia and Niger) and as a student who stayed in Russia for 3 years and originally from Niger, I found it interesting to compare these countries on this interesting topic to see what will be the results, what news I can bring for Russia entrepreneurs because they are more advanced than Niger on this point and see how it will help my country to improve the conditions of women in this field.

The Aim of this study

The Aim of this study was to investigate and compare the opportunities of female entrepreneurship and the obstacles faced by women entrepreneurs in 2 different economies (Russia and Nigeria) to develop practical implications for women entrepreneurs in both countries.

Research Questions

To stay within the scope of our topic and avoid doing off-topic research we have developed relevant and specific research questions such as:

1. What are the opportunities and obstacles of female entrepreneurship in Russia, and Niger?

2. What are the main reasons of involvement in entrepreneurial activities in both countries?

3. What are the main sources of financial support in Russia and Niger?

4. What are the managerial Implications for Russian and Nigerian women-led businesses? What can women entrepreneurs in both countries learn from each other?

Significance

Thus, at the end, our research was useful because it has made some contributions such as to:

1. Bridge the gap in the literature about female entrepreneurship.

2. Inform entrepreneurs about the Russian and Nigerien current situation on women entrepreneurship?

3. Study has also emphasized that Russia has more favourable economic conditions, environment, and laws that favor women in to starting businesses as compare to the current situation in Niger.

4. This study has informed the governments and other relevant agencies and institutions in both countries of the insufficiency in their contributions to female entrepreneurship so that they can redouble their efforts to create an enabling environment and conditions for women to become more involved in successful start-ups.

The plan of our work is divided as follows: 1) a literary review on female entrepreneurship, 2) definition of the concepts of entrepreneurship and female entrepreneurship, 3) identification of the factors influencing the entrepreneurial decision of women in Russia and Niger, 4) highlighting the impact of female entrepreneurship in the countries concerned, 5) identifying the opportunities and obstacles of women entrepreneurs in Russia and Niger (financial and non-financial support), 6) Methods and data used, 7) and, finally, suggestion of practical implications for these women from both countries.

2. Literature Review

Creating businesses have been globally recognized as a developmental and progressive idea for the world (Scott, 1986). For this reason, entrepreneurship is sees as a vital element for globalization and for creating various opportunities for future potential entrepreneurs (Mitra, 2002). Furthermore, entrepreneurship due to the multi-faceted economic pressures is not close to any genders as it used to be in the antiquity where it was driven mostly by men only. Now Women revealed and realised that to be independent, to become useful in their family, for the society and for the economy of their countries need to work side by side with Men (Marlow, 2002). Education has given Women a certain confidence, courage, and power to engage in new ventures. Scientists have come up with an idea that the availability of locally controlled small businesses might let people know whether communities are making progress (Khari, 2009). According to (Batra, 2004, Sudha, 2007, Gupta and al, 2009) entrepreneurship has many contributions among which we can enumerate increasing income, bringing balance in development, encouraging innovation, bring solutions to unemployment, encouraging people in creating start-ups, facilitate flexibility to changes, Community Development, etc. In general, to adopt changes and innovations aggressively and peacefully. Entrepreneurship led by women is very important for businesses and development because these women contribute already appreciably to the economy of the world and their number has increased through the time. Thanks to their firms the employment rate has increased, and they represent a huge share of economic growth potential. Women are better at managing budgets and better by making decision concerning finance which has effects on family such as education of children according to Mastercard's group head of Asia, Pacific and Middle East and North Africa. Not only the number of businesses created by women is increasing more and more than those created by their male counterparts but also there is no evidence that these women's businesses failed quickly. New internationally comparable data on women's entrepreneurship in the organization for Economic Cooperation and Development countries show that the "birth rates" of women-owned enterprises are higher than those of men-owned enterprises (Carmen Niethammer, September 2013). Marriage and childrearing are factors that can push women to want to work on their own (Parker, 2009). Especially the fact of having children who are less than six years old strongly increases the likelihood of wanting to start creating own business for more independence and freedom in order to fulfil her two responsibilities, namely mother and head of business and be able to manage her time in her favor (Edwards and Field-Hendrey, 2002). Results based on data on paid time employment and responses to household surveys show that women, when working, whether on pay or entrepreneurship, consistently contribute more to household output than “men (Longstreth, Stafford and Mauldin, 1987, Boden,, 1999, Bond and Sales, 2001)”. According to “(CWBR, 2002)'', women are overrepresented in few industrial sectors such as sales, retail and services. As an example, still in the same research was revealed that 69% of women entrepreneurs worked in the service sector in 2006 while 14.4% worked in the retail sector. They are also concentrated in low-income informal sectors.

To include domestic perspectives of women entrepreneurship we would like to highlight some results from Scientists researchers on Niger and Russia. Niger even if is till underdeveloped country has a high percentage of women entrepreneurs, that is strongly related to the low income of their economy so, most of women engage in business by necessity in order to help, support their children education, provide for family food mostly single mother and widowed women are more likely to engage in business. As result, there are many mothers that did not have education but will end by having a doctor, a manager, an accounting child, and they can be in all kind of high work position. It is recognized that women are the most affected by the unprecedented economic crisis in Sub-Saharan African countries such as Niger. This quasi-permanent crisis plunges women into endemic poverty and, as a result, they constitute the poorest and most vulnerable majority. In the 21st century, therefore, the income gap has continued to widen between rich and poor countries and, in turn, between men and women. Women are the poorest and this situation is a real obstacle to a balance and a better complementarity favoring the individual in the performance of various tasks at the level of the household and of communication in general. The clear desire of women to move from this situation of poverty to a situation of adding value has led to a new form of awareness because it is common to see in Niger, women setting up their own businesses in various fields. However, paradoxically, access and control over financial resources are still difficult for the accessible. In Niger, women play a major role in development. It should also be pointed out that many successes in the implementation of tontine or microcredit schemes for women demonstrate their economic reliability and sense of responsibility by ensuring specific burdens. While there are women in the public sector or in small businesses, many others are seeking financial independence and are not retreating from any obstacles. They are dressmakers, hairdressers, salespersons, service providers in catering, communication, or other services. They depend on their personal and daily efforts. It is already audacious to find a place in the economy, but challenges remain, particularly about women's limited access to credit, despite their proven expertise, which will be used to build society. And it has been proved by the 2018-2019 Global Entrepreneurship Monitor report of women's entrepreneurship that, the global average for women's intentions to start a business within the next three years is 17.6%, only about four points less than for men. The highest rates of women's entrepreneurial intentions are found among low-income countries (37.8%), followed by middle-income (21.3%) and high-income countries (12.6%). The highest rates of women's entrepreneurial intentions were reported in MENA (36.6%). The lowest rates were reported by women in Europe (8.5%).

It is true that during the Soviet period the Russian economy was not favorable and open to entrepreneurship but after the dissolution, there was a lot of evolution in this area especially with women. The problem of a significant increase in the production of goods and services by female entrepreneurship requires an understanding of its features and differences from male entrepreneurship. To develop measures to increase the contribution of women to entrepreneurship and to reduce the gender gap in the number of enterprises owned by women and men, it is necessary to study a wide range of issues related to female entrepreneurship. Therefore, the analysis of the regularities characterizing the existing level of female entrepreneurial activity, as well as the identification of reserves for the growth of female entrepreneurship is relevant now.

The researchers did not pay enough attention to the issues of female entrepreneurship in Russia. The relevant publications appeared in the press only after 2002. Let us consider the most interesting of them. “(Morozov, 2003)” concluded that the formation of a community of women, business owners, at the initial stage, was based on the initiative of the engineering and technical intelligent in the process of transformation of state enterprises and organizations. “(Dolgorukova and Kolesnikov, 2004)” focuses on the difference characteristics of female entrepreneurship. “(Gritsayuk, 2006)” demonstrates that in the presence of discrimination against women in the labor market, the majority of female entrepreneurs do not see significant manifestations of distrust towards them from the authorities and male entrepreneurs. (Gilmanova, 2007) the main attention is paid to the development of female entrepreneurship in Bashkortostan. It is concluded that the majority of women start their own business, since they cannot earn otherwise. “(Kipervar and sevelova, 2009)” consider features of entrepreneurship in another region (Omsk region). The article states that among Russian entrepreneurs in the 2000-s, women accounted for 25% to 30%. Moreover, among female businesses dominated enterprises with a small number of employees. The analysis of barriers to female entrepreneurship is given by (Moskovtseva, 2011). It also states that the share of women in business in 1997 was only 18 percent of the total number of entrepreneurs. (Semenova, 2013) draws attention to the fact that female entrepreneurs are dominated by women with higher specialized education, middle and mature age (belonging to the group of potential risk of unemployment). At the same time, these are mainly women who have considerable experience in managerial work, or who have not only high qualifications, but also the necessary material resources and connections for starting and developing their business that decide to show initiative and independent creative activity.

“(Polutova, 2015)” demonstrates the opportunities for the development of female entrepreneurship in the post-industrial period, when not products, but services become the dominant product type. The results of the interviews conducted by “(Kolobova, 2016)” showed the great importance of entrepreneurial activity for older and middle-aged women, who were engaged in entrepreneurship, having only unemployment as an alternative. “(Gallyamov, 2016)” proves that the main reasons for women to organize their business are the need for self-realization and the desire to have high incomes. In his opinion, they strive first and foremost to achieve success, independence, and high social status. (Utkina, 2017) formulated gender problems and socio-cultural stereotypes of modern entrepreneurship, including those that hinder the business activity of women. Although both male and female entrepreneurs expressed the fear that they would be “swallowed up” by larger firms, some expressed the view that this was a greater danger for males than for females, depending just as much on expected behavior as on actual behavior and on what branch they became involved in. The data are in line with earlier research (Aidis et al., 2007). Business owners look for solutions that do not catch the attention or interest of larger firms, and newcomers try to enter branches where actual behavior differs from traditional hierarchical structures. This opens-up for development outside of the most dominating hierarchical structures. Consequently, development of new businesses takes place in the former low priority branches. According to official statistics, 90 per cent of production in the female-dominated consumer goods sector takes place in small firms (Rosstat various years). This sector is growing, and is competitive (Gaddy, 2007; Kuznetsov et al., 2011).

Furthermore, many scientists have also written on the factors of entrepreneurship. (Kim et al, 2010) did an investigation to acknowledge at what extent the kinetics of entrepreneurial exercise in a range of OECD countries, including 17 EU member states, is affected by public policy regression methods. And the empirical study indicates that authority cost on economic affairs and education would make an important contribution to the promotion of entrepreneurism, and increasing public spending to stimulate start-ups, that would lead to an increase in entrepreneurial exertions because it facilitates the creation of businesses and allows for a better understanding on how entrepreneurism works. The authors (Simуn-Moya, Revuelto-Taboada and Guerrero, 2014) also did an empirical investigation that about 62 states on the entire five continents have an idea of how institutional, environmental conditions and economics are affecting the level of entrepreneurial exercise and the innovation performance of different countries. In order to realize that they group the sampled countries into three groups according to the different characteristics of the economic and institutional environment of each country, and analyse to which extent, rates of entrepreneurial activity and innovation results vary from one group of countries to another. The results show that the three ranges of countries are significantly diverse in terms of both innovation and entrepreneurial exercise. The writers discover concerning the link up inter the economic situation and the level of entrepreneurism that entrepreneurial exercise is considerably huge, by necessity entrepreneurism plays an important part and innovation results are lower in states with less level of development compared to those with higher level of development, a bigger income inequality and big rate of unemployment. On the second side, in developed countries, entrepreneurial exercises are more reduced, and entrepreneurism by necessity is less present compared to the innovation entrepreneurship that is improving in a significant way. Considering the institutional environment, the outcome of the investigation shows that the best results in terms of opportunity in entrepreneurship and innovation are recorded in states with higher levels of economic growth and good institutions. At the macro level, multiple studies point at a performance disadvantage of necessity entrepreneurship. It's again good to underline that opportunity entrepreneurism has a positive impact on technological changes and so on impacting the country evolution in that sector, while necessity entrepreneurship does not really have an effect on that specific part as mentioned by “(Zolatan J. Acs and Attila Varga, 2005)” that whereas opportunity entrepreneurship has a positive effect on technological changes, necessity entrepreneurism does not have an impact on that specific part enumerated by “(Zolatan J. ACS, 2006)” shows that there is a positive relation inter income level and the share of opportunity versus necessity entrepreneurs in a country. Another current study done by “(Arin et al, 2015)” that analyses the link inter macro factors and the aggregation of entrepreneurism with 32 macro indicators included in the empirical analysis, demonstrates that only four variables are close enough to explain the correlation inter macro conditions and aggregate entrepreneurism. And the writers conducted that, the study concluded that GDP per capita, unemployment, marginal tax rate and volatility of inflation are the most convincing macroeconomic variables that can be deliberated as importantly and universally connected with aggregate entrepreneurism.

The aftereffect demonstrates that entrepreneurism is in an important and systematic manner linked to inflation and taxation, and both are directly linked to macro stability. “Many authors analysed the effect of fiscal asset and gateway to finance on entrepreneurism (Black and Strahan, 2002; Hurst and Lusardi, 2004; Kim et al, 2006; Mueller, 2006; Aghion, 2007; Musso and Schiavo, 2008; Klapper, 2010; Werner, 2011; Paniagua and Sapena, 2015).” analysed the effect of fiscal asset and gateway to finance on entrepreneurism. And their overall outcome of the referred researches show that the accessibility of fiscal asset and ease of entree to finance can facilitate the entrepreneurism process and attract more interest for being an businessman and conducting at the same time to a rising in the quantity of businessman, and also to the growth of entrepreneurism at the governmental or territorial level.

Scientists have also discussed the international perspectives in their literature concerning women entrepreneurship. “(Hemple,2000)” in her book says that the contributors explore the general situation of women that are working in world by using specific examples from the wide range of occupational roles. Illuminating and documenting the significant the factors that affect it and the frustration of professional woman, they explore the specific problems that confront her at life cycle, problems such as the consequences of childhood socialization and the marriage/career syndrome. “(Ackerly, 1995)” noted that underpinning most credit interventions in Bangladesh was an implicit model of the empowered woman and concluded that women's access to the market was the primary route for their empowerment knowledge which comes through market access and warned against the likelihood of overwork, fatigue and malnutrition were loans used to promote women's labour involvement without also promoting their market access. “(Athena Theodore, 1971)” says that woman has different professional `s trends and prospects about her marriage, career, cultural and social changes. She dissolves the haze and brings together for the first time in once volume important research and observation on what it really means being woman developing an identity work around the world. “(Glen Cain's, 1966)” main research findings were the following: Higher unemployment negatively affected women `s labour force participation rate. Though statistics proved that wives of unemployed men were more likely to be in the labor force to support family income, than those of employed men. He also analysed that wage was not as strong a positive determinant of women's choice to join the labor force. However, wage was still a stronger determinant in comparison to the proportion of wife's earnings in family income (which itself affects the participation rate in a negative manner). Other important determinants were market wage rate for other family members and number of young children in the household which negatively affected women's decision to join the labor force. “(Gary Becker`s, 1965)” traced the significant understanding how individuals allocate time to work & non-work activities and the relative costs associated with it that is the cost of any activity should incorporate the amount of time forgone in undertaking it because that time could be use more productively.

2.1 Defining of entrepreneurship and women's entrepreneurship

· Entrepreneurship

Any better definition of entrepreneurship exists, however there are several meanings that respond to the different issues of research. More-over to the lack of agreement on the definition of entrepreneurship, the word is originally derived from a French verb “Entreprendre'' which means "undertake" and Richard Cantillon would have invented the expression in his manuscript in 1730. Cantillon offered the first definition of the field thus defined entrepreneurship as any self-employment of entrepreneurs with a non-fixed income wage job and risk takers as they invest known amount without knowing how much amount it will generate. We see entrepreneurship as a dynamic and complex process. It is the result of psychological, sociocultural, political, and economic factors. It takes the form of attitudes, abilities, perceptions, norms, intentions and behaviors that manifest themselves in a given context. It can be expressed in various forms such as intrapreneurship, spin-off, franchise or filialization. However, business creation is for us the most visible manifestation of entrepreneurship. It takes on the meaning of the realization of an opportunity with the risks associated with it. There must be, in the words of (BRUYAT, 1993, p.169), "a double novelty: novelty for the creator and novelty for the company". Entrepreneurship is also seen as a global and multidimensional notion and is defined by Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM, 2002) as " any strive to create an enterprise whether to create an enterprise, such as self-employment, a current business, organization or the expansion of an existing enterprise, by an individual, a group of people, or an existed established business. According to the organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), entrepreneurship at a Glance; (OECD: Paris, France, 2012), Entrepreneurship is an event that appears itself in the entire economy of a country, in different forms which, the results are not always linked to the creation of financial wealth. For example, entrepreneurship can help improve employment, reduce social inequalities, or solve environmental problems. The development of a country depends on its commercial competitiveness, which in turn is fundamentally based on the capabilities of entrepreneurs and managers. Indeed, entrepreneurship is an area that is changing rapidly in the economy, management, finance and even in legislation (Baron and Henry, 2010).

· Women Entrepreneurship

Define as the creation and development of enterprises by women, this concept has become increasingly important in most industrialized and developing countries in the last 10-year period and Fifty percent of the entire world populations are women, so the number of women entrepreneurs may continue increasing in the future (VanderBrug, 2013), nowadays the number of female entrepreneurs is increasing. Female entrepreneurship has already become a key factor which can influence the development of the economy (Sarfaraz et al., 2014), (Nicole, 2015), (GEM, 2017; Hamilton, 2013; Hanson, 2009). According to data from Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, 126 million women worldwide have started new businesses in 2013 (VanderBrug, 2013). Women's entrepreneurship is very important, as it is a space for evaluating the efforts of the state to promote the advancement of women but also a framework for valuing the partnership between public institutions and the women's associative movement in order to better meet the expectations of women and young females people. women play a significant role in society as a key player in the fight against poverty (Langevang et al., 2015; Minniti and Naudй, 2010; World Bank, 2012), (Ekinsmyth, 2011: 106). Referring to the notion of a female entrepreneur, it can be defined as a woman who initiates, organizes, and runs a business enterprise. These are women who innovate, imitate, or adopt business activities (Lewis et al., 2014).

Finding a definition of a female entrepreneur is not an easy task, given that the definitions identified from various schools of thought as well as from different areas of research make it difficult to reach a consensus on a separate definition of a female entrepreneur. According to Belcourt, Burke and Lee-Goselin (Belcourt, 1991), the entrepreneur is " the woman who seeks personal development, financial autonomy and control of her existence through the launch and management of her own business ". Lavoie (Lavoie, 1988) describes the entrepreneur, who he also referred to as the owner-manager, or female entrepreneur, as " a woman who, alone or with partners, has founded, acquired or inherited a business, who bears the financial, administrative and social risks and responsibilities and participates in its day-to-day management. We also adopted the Canadian Women's Entrepreneurship Working Group's definition of "a person who takes financial risks to create or acquire a business, and leads it in an innovative and creative way in developing new products and consequently new markets" (GTEM, 1997).

2.2 Hierarchy of factors affecting entrepreneurial decision

· Individual factors affecting entrepreneurial decision

Making an entrepreneurial decision vary according to each person and his or her motives, but many choose to be entrepreneur for the following reasons:

*Financial Independence

This is probably the main reason why people start their own business, to not depend on others and to offer themselves all they need on time. (Acs, Z. J., & Armington, C, 2003), jobs and innovation (Reynolds, Storey, and Westhead, 1994), as mentions that the high level of independence will motivate a person to start his own business and can become the predictor of his success in entrepreneurship. (Jesurajan and Gnanadhas, 2011)

*Freedom and Autonomy

This factor is also among the first reasons why people go for entrepreneurship, of course the entrepreneur will make more effort at first, will spend his time making an arduous effort to make sure his business works. However, he will reach a point where he or she could manage his or her schedule and enjoy his or her free time. (Bird and West, 1997, Bluedorn and Martin, 2008, Sullivan and Meek, 2012)

*Network

Businessmen are always looking for inspiration so, they always attend conferences, courses, and meetings. In those kinds of places, they can easily build relationship which would help them with their brand Images. Entrepreneurs are people who love to learn from others, get experiences, share stories, and be surrounded by people who are creative, which is why this would be the perfect place for new entrepreneurs to grow quickly. (Lechner, Dowling & Welpe, 2005), (Setyawati and al, 2011), (Todeva, 2006).

*Self - Challenge

Any entrepreneur will find that he will constantly deploy to meet new challenges. The attention of new skills such as social media, market analysis are some examples. Having different challenges and being able to come up with solution to its, make you become an expert and become a highly qualified professional thus it will be easier to share your messages with the world. In addition, you would help others realize their dreams by standing as their mentors. (Alam, Senik & Jani, 2012), (Dutta, 2005), (Shane, S. & Venkataranam, S,2000).

*Determination

In all kind of activities, we need determination but for entrepreneurs, it is one of the key factors without which it is going to be difficult to develop your business. At some point, no one is going to tell you what to do or when to do it. So, over time, you will discover that the more accurate you are in your personal life is to have determination. Some entrepreneurs simply avoid the daily routine that accompanies a career that does not motivate them. Doing your job when you want and when you feel is more productive. This is one of the best parts of running your own brand because you can arrange your day and change it without any problem. (Shane and Venkataraman, 2000), (Shane, 2003), (Thomas & Brubaker, 2008)

*Achievement

This factor is a sense of accomplishment that makes people happy. After achieving their goals, entrepreneurs feel happy and proud of themselves success. (Mann & Dant, 1998), our understanding of entrepreneurism will not be complete unless we understand the motivation of individuals involved (Venkataraman, 1997). Indeed, current finding proposes that motivational specifics are an essential factor in entrepreneurial activity and success (Baum, Locke, & Smith, 2000; Stewart & Roth, 2001). Discovering on the motivational particularity of entrepreneurs seems especially promising for helping to define those individuals that might be best suited for identifying and exploiting entrepreneurial prospects in the marketplace (Shane & Venkataraman, 2000). For example, individual criterions and motivations may be used by schools, career counselors, depositors, authority entities and so on to identify individuals that may be suited to undertake and flourished in entrepreneurial ventures.

*Self-efficacy

Entrepreneurs rely too much on their personal abilities and expertise, and those who believe in their abilities and skills when faced with unexpected situations are very effective. Self-efficacy is thus an individual factor influencing entrepreneurial decision-making. One contractor said: one of his decisions was not wise and he quickly found out, but because of certain environmental factors, he did not change it. On the other hand, he thought his knowledge could handle any problem. Another contractor said that he takes decisions according to its own judgment and expertise, because, in the face of unforeseen events where there is no other recourse, he always has confidence in himself. The other contractor says that at the beginning of the career season, he relied mostly on his own judgment to make decisions because he was optimistic by nature and had confidence in his personal abilities. (Fairlie and Holleran, 2012), (Boyd and Vozikis, 1994; Chen et al., 1998; Baum et al., 2001; Markman et al., 2002; Krueger, 2003; Segal et al., 2007).

· Personal optimism

Personal optimism is other factors which influence entrepreneur decisions, they overestimate the positive cues and give so much hope to future where will be other determinants. Certain entrepreneurs said: `'they think they relied so much on the help of authority; in retrospect they regret that optimism". Other entrepreneurs said: `'they usually have faith in future, nobody knows what the future holds, but as entrepreneurs, they have always been optimistic regarding the future". Publication has also talked about hopefulness and its link up to other characteristics of entrepreneurism, how optimism affects business performance (strides and setback) and decision making, and diverse levels of unrealistic optimism leading to various ramifications in business development (Liang & Dunn, 2008; Liang & Dunn, 2008b), (Baron, 2004), (De Carolis and Saparito, 2006).

*The personal characteristics

The personal characteristics influencing entrepreneurial decision includes past experiences or knowledge, the know-how to do and the know-how to be of the person. Moreover, personal environment factors such as family status, sex and growing up in an entrepreneurial family influences entrepreneurial decision (Carland, Hoy, Boulton and Carland, 1984), (Frese, 2007), (Aidis and Mickiewicz, 2006)

4) Risk-taking Propensity

We admit that entrepreneur risk more than others, especially their competitors. They made decisions that other people may not do but this business needs risk and if they could not take risks they cannot grow. On some occasions, in your firm you cannot make sure that all the relevant dates are considered and analyzed, sometimes you should take the risk and make a decision. (Rottenstreich and Kivetz, 2006) and by (Tyszka and Zalesґkiewicz, 2006; Antoncic and al, 2012)

*Gender

Today, there is no differences in gender when it comes to entrepreneurship because both men and women are doing great in that field, however women are less likely to be involved in entrepreneurial activities than men due to the lack of confidence that has a negative effect impact on the entrepreneurial activity of women compared to men and that is among the obstacles the faced, it is similar to the fear of failure and success. Also, in Muslim countries, a woman entrepreneur is frowned upon in society sometimes and because of their gender, they can even be easily deceived by people of bad faith. Let us not forget also that women have domestic tasks, take care of the education of children which is not favorable for them to create a new business which requires much time especially at the beginning. (Ahmed, 2002). However, entrepreneurship development among women helps to enhance their personal capabilities and increase decision-making status in the family and society as a whole (Shathiabama, 2010), (Schwartz, 2008).

*Age

Age is a factor that influences entrepreneurial activities. Its effect can be positive or negative. First, the effect is positive in the sense when people grow up, they have more experience and are more competent than in a young Stadium. If the effect reaches its peak, then it will decrease because older people are more at risk because of their limited life (Shane, 2003). This effect is demonstrated in various studies. (Rees and Shah, 1986) used the UK General Household Survey, which contained 4,762 data, examining the relationship between entrepreneurial activities and age. It's also mentioned the possibility that older people are more risk-averse than younger people. Moreover, an entrepreneurial activity requires responsibility and is a mental challenge (Rees, Shah, 1986). In addition, (Arenius and Minniti, 2005) noted that 26 age has a negative and significant relationship with nascent entrepreneurs. (Reynolds, 1997) study examined 40 data from a Michigan survey and found a significant difference in age. Age is certainly an important and dominant factor influencing decisions to become an entrepreneur and start a new business (Reynolds, 1997). Most of the people engaged in an entrepreneurial activity are between 25 and 34 years old (Reynolds, 1997). Further research was conducted by (Mesch and Czamanski, 1997). Both concluded that people who are about 42 years old are more likely to be entrepreneurial active than younger or older people. There are also studies of the best age, respectively when age has the greatest effect. For example, (Holtz-Eakin et al., 1994) determined the age of the tower at which it changed from positive to negative. The strongest influence of age on entrepreneurial activities is that of 44 years.

*Education

Education is also a factor that has an impact on entrepreneurial activities. The probability of starting a new business is higher if the entrepreneur is educated because knowledge and skills are very important to be entrepreneurial. A good education reinforces the decision to become an entrepreneur and increases the estimated value of an entrepreneurial opportunity (Shane, 2003). There are two aspects that (Rees and Shah, 1986, p). "Education serves as a filter so that the better educated are more likely to have consistent skills. They also tend to be better informed, which means that they are more effective in assessing self-employment opportunities. "Their study found that education is positive and meaningful about entrepreneurial opportunities. This may be because more educated people are more likely to obtain or perceive lucrative entrepreneurial opportunities (Rees, Shah, 1986). In addition, several other studies have demonstrated a significant positive relationship between education and entrepreneurial activities, the level of Education has an influence on the degree of success. Probably, the higher an entrepreneur's level of education, the more successful he or she will be. Also, Education has an intermediate level a positive effect on the success of an enterprise, especially vocational education. The type of training has some influence on entrepreneurial activities. Analytical skills and abilities are important to become an entrepreneur. (Reynolds et al., 2001; Amit and Muller, 1995).

· Macroeconomic factors

To become an entrepreneur many macroeconomic factors should be considered according to where we are. And these factors are

*Economic Stagnation

Here it is about the slow growth of the economy for a considerable period that is mostly measured by using GPD growth, it is usually accompanied by a high rate of unemployment. And that will help define the economic state. (Audretsch and Thurik, 2001), (Reynolds & al, 2005), (Stel, Carree, & al, 2005).

*The Interest Rates

Which are the charges levied by the bank for lending a loan, and an increase in the interest rates will at the same time influence the business, because business from time to time borrow money from the banks, and an increase in interest rates will bring higher interest expense and business will have to incur higher costs to repay the loan. It also affects customers who in turn will affect the business, because in the case of increasing the amount that individuals need to pay for them to borrow money increases and so reducing the demand for large products in the market. All those makes it important to look at the interest rates before becoming an entrepreneur. (Smith, 2018). (Audretsch and Thurik, 2001), (Reynolds & al, 2005), (Stel, Carree, & al, 2005).

*Political instability

It brings conflicts, and conflicts are not good for business, because it will have effect on consumers and the more the consumers are affected the less profit comes in, which makes it very risky to become or start as an entrepreneur in places with such situations, they are risky places to do business or to invest in business. (Lee and Osteryoung, 2004), (Drakopoulou Dodd and Hynes, 2012).

*Inflation

It is good to have a look at the inflation ups downs to have an idea of how the prices go up and come down. Because here an increasing in the level of products prices and services is due to the inflation state. A good or a stable state is always encouraging. (Antonia Lopez-Villavicencio and Valerie Mignon, September 2011). (Dohse and Walter, 2012).

*Economic growth

It plays also a major effect because it makes the person have an idea of the economic situation or health and to know the difficulties that may come along. If it is good or not to start an entrepreneur carrier there, as mentioned by (Thurik, 2009), in his study on "Entrepreneurship, Economic Growth, and Policy in Emerging Economies”. (Hannan and Carroll, 2000)

*Infrastructures

Here we are talking about the systems and facilities of a country a city or other areas that contribute to its economic growth and help it to function, it also includes services. Having a look at the infrastructures will also give an idea about the economic state of the place and the facilities that are accessible and see if they may be helpful (Alcбzar and al, 2015), (Matlay, 2011).

· Government policies

Having a look at government policies help to have an idea of what Law is going to be applied to us as an entrepreneur and by doing that it also helps to know how profitable it could be for you as an entrepreneur. (Lee and Osteryoung, 2004) reported that the capability of business owner to influence government policy is relate to the success of entrepreneurial activities. (Westhead & al., 2011).

*Cultural factors

Depends on the existing value system, this system of values determines the desirable and acceptable motivations and actions of people. Motives such as profit-sharing, productive work, gaining prestige and status in society can lead to the growth of entrepreneurship. (Rodrнguez-Pose & Hardy, 2015). (European Commission, 2012)

2.3 Factors affecting women's entrepreneurial decisions in Russia and Niger

· Russia

Several articles were written about the reasons why Russian women engage in venture and in each of these articles were given the same or similar reasons. According to the data from OPORA of Russia, 2015 the main reasons why the interviewed women started doing business were the following:

First, to get additional income - 37%

Second, for the possibility of self-realization - 28%

Third, to become independence from the employer - 23%

Fourth, for the desire to leave business to children - 4%

And finally, for other reasons - 8%.

Additional information on the drivers and motives of women in business was obtained in the third and the fourth waves of the study. These data are given in table 1