One in three women in HK have plans to start a business now

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Despite COVID-19, one in three surveyed women in Hong Kong have plans to launch a business (compared to one in four in the UK and Australia), with a quarter already doing so, according to a recent global survey by AllBright.

Almost a third (31%) cite fashion as their sector of choice, other popular sectors include health & wellbeing, and tech.

However, research from HSBC found that female entrepreneurs in Hong Kong (68%) are the most likely to be denied funding following their investment pitches – 18% higher than the global average. While it took on average 9.7 months for women to raise capital, it only requires 8.8 months for male entrepreneurs to do so. This figure also falls behind other jurisdictions in Asia, such as Singapore at 9.1 months and mainland China at 7.8 months.

Encouragingly, the difference between male and female entrepreneurs in Hong Kong who secured 61% or more of their target investment is only 2% in favour of males, the least among all other researched areas, except the UAE. However, the actual percentage of it (29%), while on par with USA and Singapore, still falls significantly behind the UAE (45%) and mainland China (40%). 

“The current challenges for female entrepreneurs are countless, but our community has shown that they are as resilient as ever. Although COVID-19 is disproportionately impacting women’s careers and the growth plans of female entrepreneurs around the world, many women are still planning to set up a business post-pandemic.” said Debbie Wosskow, co-founder of AllBright.