The Dominican Republic is ranked 11th among 20 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean in terms of its overall business environment for female entrepreneurs, according to the newly released Women’s Entrepreneurial Venture Scope (WEVentureScope), conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit with funding from the Inter-American Development Bank’s Multilateral Investment Fund.
The DR received a sixth place ranking for entrepreneurial business environment for women, below Chile, El Salvador, Peru, Ecuador and Argentina.
The Women’s Entrepreneurial Venture Scope 2013 found that 48.2% of micro, small and medium enterprises had female owners, and 19.9% reported having a woman in their senior management. “Women enjoy full access to and are well represented in business networks, with one of the highest scores in the region,” says the study. The report says that the DR scores much higher than its Caribbean neighbors in the categories of depth of credit and contract enforcement.
The report says that two of the biggest challenges facing female managers are insufficient public-sector supplier initiatives and limited usage of financial services. This is improving in the Medina administration that has made SMEs a priority of government procurement contracts.
The countries ranked above the DR were: Chile, Peru, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Argentina, Trinidad & Tobago, Panama and Brazil.
See http://idbdocs.iadb.org/wsdocs/getdocument.aspx?docnum=37894500