Empowering women in science through entrepreneurship

Delegates from 21 member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Forum discussed the role of entrepreneurship and female business-owners in strengthening and advancing the STEM pipeline. 

They also mentioned types of networking women in STEM who are starting or developing business can access and how start-ups support opportunities and skills required for STEM entrepreneurs to enter the market and succeed.

According delegates, one of the largest and most important questions that female entrepreneurs have to tackle when starting or developing their business is how they will finance their business.

They said limited access to finance resources due to absence of financial markets, high collateral requirements and interest rates and additional bank charges are traditional challenges that female entrepreneurs often face.  

At the workshop, participants deliberated in groups how entrepreneurship can be strengthened in STEM through each of sub-pillars, namely opportunities and skills, access to capital and access to market. 

These discussions will delineate a workshop consensus about next steps for the APEC Women in STEM initiative.