Female Entrepreneurship and Financial Inclusion in the Dairy Industry in Bangladesh: A Case Study in Collaborationwith SolidaridadNetwork

Abstract

Development academics and practitioners increasingly point to the social and economic potential of female entrepreneurship. A commonly cited barrier to entrepreneurship is access to finance, whereby commercial banks can play a determining role for the financial inclusion of female entrepreneurs. Previous studies on female entrepreneurship and financial inclusion have largely evolved as two separate strands. The purpose of our thesis is to explore the interface between these strands, by firstly extending the existing strands of literature on female entrepreneurship and financial inclusion and subsequently interlinking the two in order to answer the research question: How can contextualized financial services contribute to the development of sustainable female entrepreneurship in the dairy industry in Bangladesh?
To answer this research question, we chose a critical realist perspective combined with a feminist methodological approach.The topic of female entrepreneurship and financial inclusion is complex. Thus, we chose a single case study, as it allows fora deeper understanding of the topic. The case was conducted in collaboration with the organization Solidaridad Network, which contributed to the planning and execution of the two-week field study in Bangladesh. The data was collected through semi-structured interviews with 15 female entrepreneurs in the dairy industry in the Khulna cluster,and 6 bank officers in Khulna and Dhaka. The data was analyzed with an abductive conceptual framework that is based on theoretical background, literature reviews and primary data.
The findings show that both female entrepreneurs and commercial banks are concerned with (formal or informal) financial services.The analysis reveals that financial services may be shaped by following factors: agency and network building, freedom of movement, holistic awareness building, reliance on internal structures, industry-related attributes and acquisition of knowledge through formal and informal training.We found that contextualized financial services can contribute to sustainable female entrepreneurship under certain premises.