This Research Handbook highlights the importance of women as agents of change, acknowledging women entrepreneurs’ efforts and supporting their value-creation activities. With important implications for policymaking, contributing authors direct attention to and provide evidence for the positive contribution of women entrepreneurs to the economy, regardless of their businesses’ size and formal status. Challenging the underperformance hypothesis associated with women entrepreneurs, chapters present evidence that women do not underperform in their businesses, but that they add value even in constrained environments. This intends to shift the focus of research from questions like ‘what do entrepreneurs do?’ to ‘how do they do it?’, focusing on the unique ways in which each woman entrepreneur creates value, and ‘for whom do they do it?’, looking at the multiple value outcomes women entrepreneurs create and the beneficiaries of that value. With a global perspective on women’s entrepreneurship and their value creation, this Research Handbook will be vital reading for researchers of entrepreneurship, as well as government agencies and policymakers interested in promoting entrepreneurial activity.

Table of Contents:
Contents: Introduction to the Research Handbook of Women’s Entrepreneurship and Value Creation 1 Shumaila Yousafzai, Colette Henry, Monique Boddington, Shandana Sheikh and Alain Fayolle PART I VALUE CREATION AT THE INDIVIDUAL LEVEL 1 Women in Ethiopia: creating value through entrepreneurship 24 Atsede Tesfaye Hailemariam, Konjit Hailu Gudeta, Brigitte Kroon and Marloes van Engen 2 Evaluating the contribution of entrepreneurship training, perceived emancipation and value creation for rural female entrepreneurs in Uganda 37 Sylvia K. Gavigan, Thomas M. Cooney and Klavs Ciprikis 3 Creating value in the margins: rethinking value creation, empowerment and women’s entrepreneurship in South Africa’s street food sector 52 Jiska de Groot, Nthabiseng Mohlakoana, Abigail Knox, Debbie Sparks and Hans Bressers 4 Emancipation and value share: the individual-level value creation by women entrepreneurs in India 68 Renuka Vyas PART II VALUE CREATION AT THE BUSINESS LEVEL 5 Collaborative value creation in a highly adverse context: experiences of Hazara women entrepreneurs in Balochistan 83 Khizran Zehra, Leona Achtenhagen, Sadia Arshad, and Nadia Arshad 6 Cultivating business value beyond economic measures: narratives from Sweden 103 Annie Roos 7 Value creation in conflict zones: evidence from Afghan and Palestinian women entrepreneurs 118 Doaa Althalathini 8 Creating blended value: Sri Lankan women micro-entrepreneurs and their ventures 132 Nadeera Ranabahu and Mary Barrett 9 The latent entrepreneurs: inequality and enterprising women in the lucky country 147 Zara Lasater, Vinita Godinho, Robyn Eversole and Naomi Birdthistle 10 Women entrepreneurs creating value in informal public transport enterprises in Kenya 164 Anne Kamau and Winnie V. Mitullah PART III VALUE CREATION AT THE HOUSEHOLD AND FAMILY LEVEL 11 Becoming an entrepreneur? Early identity formation among migrant women nascent entrepreneurs 178 Sanaa Talha and Gry Agnete Alsos 12 Migrant women entrepreneurs and value creation: narratives of household and community contribution in the British ethnic economy 194 Milka Kwiatek and Maria Villares-Varela 13 Iranian women entrepreneurs: creating household value through entrepreneurship 211 Vahid Makizadeh, Shumaila Yousafzai, Siavash Aein Jamshid and Marzieh Nasiri PART IV VALUE CREATION AT THE SOCIETAL LEVEL 14 Saudi Arabian women entrepreneurs: agents of change and value creators 235 Hayfaa Tlaiss 15 Exploring societal value creation through women’s informal entrepreneurial activities in Nepal – a narrative approach 246 Mirela Xheneti and Shova Thapa Karki 16 Women entrepreneurs as agents of change in the Americas: redefining the bottom line 261 Ruta Aidis 17 Women entrepreneurs creating value in a democratic South Africa – emerging beyond the informal sector 278 Ethné Swartz, Caren Scheepers and Frances Amatucci 18 Indian transgender women creating social value through social entrepreneurship 296 Roshni Narendran 19 Generation Y females in Ireland: an insight into this new entrepreneurial potential for value creation 309 Angela Hamouda, Kate Johnston and Rebecca Nevins 20 Radically overperforming women entrepreneurs in Mexico City: Alimentos Para Todos as a high impact social innovation case 327 Hans Lundberg 21 Post conflict development and value creation through women’s entrepreneurship: evidence from Swat, Pakistan 345 Musarrat Jabeen and Shandana Sheikh Index