Ma spotlights importance of female entrepreneurs

•Publication Date：05/29/2012
•Source： Taiwan Today

ROC President Ma Ying-jeou said May 28 that female entrepreneurship plays a crucial role in Taiwan’s economy, with the ratio of men to women involved in business startup activity higher than other East Asian countries.

Speaking at a meeting of the Women Entrepreneurs Association of Taiwan, Ma said an international survey for 2011 showed that 10.2 percent of adult males in Taiwan are involved in early-stage business start-up activity, compared with 5.6 percent of adult females, for a ratio of just under 2-to-1, better than Japan’s ratio of 5-to-2 and South Korea’s 3-to-1.

Nearly 8 percent of Taiwanese women aged between 18-64 years had started or were running their own businesses, he pointed out.

Women also account for 48 percent of Taiwan citizens who have not founded their own businesses but wish to do so at some point in the future, the president said.

In 2010, Ma said, the number of female entrepreneurs stood at 454,000, or 36 percent of the total, clearly showing the significant role of women in the nation’s economic development

Ma stressed that the government greatly values females in business, noting that it has raised funding for startups by women from NT$500,000 (US$16,902) to NT$1 million.

The Start-Up Taiwan program launched this year by the Small and Medium Enterprise Association under the Ministry of Economic Affairs also includes special provisions for funding new businesses run by women, he added.