The entry posted by Nan yesterday made me think of the results in the 2005 GEM Report on Women and Entrepreneurship and the massive impact that women's businesses have worldwide. GEM data show that women now represent more than one-third of all people involved in entrepreneurial activity and are likely to play an even greater role when the informal sector is considered.

Because of my interest in poverty and growth, I find particularly compelling the fact that across the 35 participating GEM countries in 2005, middle-income countries such as Venezuela and Thailand exhibited the highest women's early-stage entrepreneurial activity prevalence rates. Clearly, most of these businesses are low growth and located in traditional consumer-oriented sectors.  Nevertheless, they represent a significant way for women, who may have no alternative access to standard labor markets, to produce income for themselves and their families.

Although, regardless of country, men are still more likely to be involved in entrepreneurial activity than women, the increase in the absolute number of women involved in starting and growing businesses is a heartening sign of how entrepreneurship, by making a difference for these women's lives, generate positive externalities on whole economies as well.

In fact, worldwide, female and male entrepreneurs show very similar patterns for the expected growth potential of their businesses, based upon their use of technology, level of competition, and novelty of products or service offering. Even more interesting is the fact that the percentages of entrepreneurs who expect some or profound growth potential for their businesses is somewhat higher for female entrepreneurs than male entrepreneurs. Thus, women are clearly participating in the mobilization of idle resources and contributing to economic growth.