• Dell announces findings of annual Dell Women Entrepreneur Cities (WE Cities) Index − the only global gender-specific index that looks at a city’s ability to attract and foster growth of women-owned firms
• Singapore ranks number 8 – the highest city within APJ – for high-potential women entrepreneurs, ranking number 5 as an enabling environment through Culture
• Kuala Lumpur ranked as a ‘City to Watch’ and notable cities for success include Hong Kong, Melbourne and Sydney for factors such as Technology and Talent
• According to extensive data and analysis, when impediments to female entrepreneurship are removed, there is a dramatic uplift in a city’s economic prospects
• Dell’s WE Cities Index provides a diagnostic tool to advise entrepreneurs and policy-makers on how to improve conditions to enable businesses founded by women to thrive
Dell announced findings of the 2017 Women Entrepreneur Cities (WE Cities) Index at the 8th annual Dell Women Entrepreneur Network Summit, revealing how 50 top global cities are fostering high-potential women entrepreneurs (HPWE). Building on 2016 WE Cities research, the study ranks cities based on the impact of local policies, programs and characteristics in addition to national laws and customs.
“Globally, women’s entrepreneurship rates are growing more than 10 percent each year. In fact, women are as likely or more likely than men to start businesses in many markets. However, financial, cultural and political barriers can limit the success of these businesses,” said Karen Quintos, EVP and chief customer officer at Dell. “By arming city leaders and policymakers with data-driven research and clear calls to action, we can collectively improve the landscape for high-potential women entrepreneurs, which in turn dramatically lifts a city’s economic prospects — as what is good for women is good for the economy.”
“It is in the world’s best interest that women entrepreneurs everywhere thrive. The WE Cities Index can be used as a diagnostic tool to help ensure that lawmakers are enabling women entrepreneurs to succeed,” said Elizabeth Gore, entrepreneur-in- residence at Dell. “Each of the cities on this list can learn from one another and encourage political change to attract and support women entrepreneurs. The resulting change will be felt at not just a city level, around the world as we develop an ecosystem where all entrepreneurs can thrive regardless of gender.”
“Cities in Asia Pacific (APJ) hold huge promise and opportunity for women entrepreneurs, with a number of cities in the region already realizing success in terms of attracting and fostering high-potential women business owners,” said Amit Midha, president, APJ commercial at Dell EMC. “Throughout the region and across the five city characteristics looked at as part of our WE Cities ranking – capital, technology, talent, culture and markets – we see cities differentiating themselves in specific areas. For instance, ranking #8 and #16 respectively are Singapore and Hong Kong. Both cities are focusing on technology leadership and their ability to enable women entrepreneurs to stand out, through technology and innovation. Kuala Lumpur is also emerging as a ‘City to Watch’ in recognition of its enabling factors for business and society. The challenges women entrepreneurs face are complex, but the success stories we see are testament to the scale of the opportunity available in APJ. Identifying these challenges and working to address these is an investment in our collective future.”
Building on the past five years of Dell research on HPWE, cities were ranked on five important characteristics: capital, technology, talent, culture and markets. These pillars were organized into two groups — operating environment and enabling environment. The overall rating is based on 72 indicators; 45 of these, nearly two-thirds, have a gender-based component. Individual indicators were weighted based on four criteria: relevance, quality of underlying data, uniqueness in the index and gender component.
Source: Media Release
