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Bridging the disconnect: how network creation facilitates female Bangladeshi entrepreneurship

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Abstract

Networking has been suggested as a tool to address the challenges of social entrepreneurs in severely resource constrained environments. Especially in countries where women do not usually take part in economic activities, like in Bangladesh, stimulating networking and entrepreneurship among women could have a high impact. We use longitudinal data gathered over two years, to study how entrepreneurial networks are developed and used by female entrepreneurs in Bangladesh, and how a third party can stimulate network development. We followed 26 women from the start of their entrepreneurial development. Adopting a social capital perspective on network formation and development, we identified four essential strategies in building entrepreneurial networks: modifying and building on existing bonding networks, transferring linking ties, teaching how to build bridging networks, and the creation of a network of entrepreneurial peers. We found that a third party can successfully stimulate network development for the poorest in Bangladesh. We also found that the patterns of network development in this severely resource-constraint environment are remarkably different from those found in corporate studies. Our findings can contribute to developing new pathways to stimulate entrepreneurship in developing countries.

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Notes

  1. We provide a rationale for this definition in the elaborate description of the SEL approach, forthcoming in the Johns Hopkins Research Series on Social Entrepreneurship.

  2. Situation on 28 February 2013; see http://www.ngoab.gov.bd/Files/NGO_LIST.pdf for the latest number.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful for the very helpful and constructive comments provided by two reviewers of an early draft of this article. Their suggestions were of great help. We thank the PRIDE staff for their hard work in stimulating social entrepreneurship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Athena Institute, VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Netherlands

    Jeroen Maas, Anastasia A. Seferiadis, Joske F. G. Bunders & Marjolein B. M. Zweekhorst

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  1. Jeroen Maas
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  2. Anastasia A. Seferiadis
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  3. Joske F. G. Bunders
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  4. Marjolein B. M. Zweekhorst
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Correspondence to Jeroen Maas.

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Maas, J., Seferiadis, A.A., Bunders, J.F.G. et al. Bridging the disconnect: how network creation facilitates female Bangladeshi entrepreneurship. Int Entrep Manag J 10, 457–470 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11365-014-0299-2

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