This report summarises research carried out in 2017 by Helen Fullen under the supervision of Dr. Kristel Miller at Ulster University Business School, Department of Management and Leadership on ‘A Conceptual Framework for Peer Support in Female Business Venturing.’
Executive Summary
Since 2013, Enterprise Ireland, the state agency responsible for the development and growth of Irish markets in global markets, has supported customised programs in the Republic of Ireland for female entrepreneurs. We sought to investigate the extent, value and impact of peer support among participants of these programs, where people in similar positions share knowledge or experience and provide emotional, social or practical help to each other.
We carried out surveys with 109 female entrepreneurs and qualitative interviews with eight domain experts. Our study identified that peer support and mentorship is considered very important amongst female entrepreneurs, and that peer support encourages female entrepreneurs to build confidence, take risks and solve problems, which are prerequisites to successful venture development.
Domain experts also made recommendations to encourage peer support activity among female entrepreneurs.
From the study, we identified four pillars to support female entrepreneurs in building valuable peer networks:
(1) Design a strategy to expand existing peer networks, (2) develop a national peer support community, (3) deliver an awareness campaign focusing on the benefits and value of peer support and (4) organise activities through which female entrepreneurs might access peer support, such as events, forums, educational workshops and purposeful networking.
Why we did this study
Women are under represented in entrepreneurship activities. Figures from the EU suggest that women are half as likely as men to own new businesses.
In the Republic of Ireland, the State agency Enterprise Ireland has put in place numerous programs and initiatives to support female entrepreneurs, and in recent years the numbers of women setting up their own businesses in Ireland has grown.
We wanted to get a deeper understanding of peer support in Enterprise Ireland women-only programs.
Peer support describes situations where people in similar positions share knowledge or experience and provide emotional, social and practical help to each other.
There is an extensive body of literature about peer support, particularly in the health and education sectors. Studies have found that there are numerous benefits to implementing a peer-based approach. These include increased motivation for learning, exposure to diverse ideas and perspectives, encouragement to reach for higher expectations and improved performance. But to date, few studies have examined the nature or perceived impact of peer support in female entrepreneurship programs.
Aims of the research
We wanted to better understand the extent, value and impact of peer support in female business venturing across Enterprise Ireland sponsored programs between 2013-2017.
We set out to identify the level of peer support in Enterprise Ireland sponsored programs, to find out how female entrepreneurs engage in peer support and to see how women perceive the importance and impact of that support.
Our goal was to synthesise recommendations about how to improve future programs to support female entrepreneurs.
Methodology
Using a short online questionnaire, we surveyed 109 qualified female entrepreneurs who took part in Enterprise Ireland female entrepreneur programs. We asked the women about their attitudes to peer support and how they perceive its impact.
We also interviewed eight people (men and women) who are domain experts in the area of female entrepreneurship.
The semi-structured interviews focused on their personal experience of peer support, their perspectives on peer support in general and specifically for women entrepreneurs.
Findings
Quantitative Analysis
The results of the 109 online surveys primarily captured quantitative data but also allowed respondents to include more qualitative, open answers. The following summarises our main findings and includes a selection of comments from participants.
Peer support is important, and so are mentors
We found that an overwhelming majority of respondents (86%) deemed peer support to be either very or extremely important to their venture.
“Personally, I have found peer support among female entrepreneurs hugely valuable. I hadn’t been one to value the connection of females supporting each other previously but I can really see now the difference that it can make.”
Mentors are key for this peer support, with more than 80% of respondents citing them as pivotal.
“One of the interesting things is how different mentors can offer you different types of peer support so you can have multiple mentors at the same time.”
Female entrepreneur programs (62%), friends and family (61%) and business networks (58%) were also sources of peer support. Alumni networks (31%) and social networks (28%) featured less prominently but provided some support.
“These programs are essential to encourage more women to step forward.”
Peers pass on knowledge, skills and awareness
Our survey respondents agreed that peers are effective for sharing knowledge (83%), challenges and concerns (81%) and facilitate exposure to new ideas and perspectives (79%). Peers help to reduce loneliness (78%) and they offer motivation to reach for higher expectations (80%).
“It can be a very, very lonely place. There are a lot of issues that you cannot easily discuss with other members of the team and you need to be able to discuss them with someone and that peer support can be quite crucial especially for sole founders.”
Learning from others is critical
Group discussions (70%) were the most popular formats for learning, followed by informal one-to-one discussions (64%). Networking opportunities (49%) and workshops (46%) were less popular but still important options for peer learning. Participants generally saw role models as being beneficial.
“Round table meetings and discussions have been very useful to solve real life difficulties and challenges.”
Gender diversity is seen as a good thing in peer support
The interviews we carried out revealed insights about the need for diversity in peer support. Respondents suggested that mixed gender groups provided more balanced support.
“It’s about the relationship with the peer/mentor, the fit and not necessarily the gender of the person.”
Peers keep in touch
We found that almost all (85%) of respondents stayed in touch with their peers following the completion of a shared female entrepreneurship program. Online or mobile technology plays a major role in allowing women to maintain and offer peer support in the longer term.
“The online/mobile forums (WhatsApp) have been outstandingly important. Instant and not too time consuming. Still a source of advice, encouragement and real sharing despite the group working from different locations and having finished the program months ago. It’s a go-to for me.”
Peer support has impact
A majority of respondents (78%) said peer support offered meaningful and personal connections.
“The cohesion and learning between our group has been indescribable after we shared office space for six months. There have been so many ups and downs for us all. I learnt as much from the other women as i did from the program.”
We found that peer support has a pronounced personal impact, helping female entrepreneurs to build confidence and encouraging risk taking (though not comfort with risk) and problem solving, which are prerequisites to business impact.
However, peer support appeared to have a smaller direct effect on business impact. While it helped to grow business and access finance and investment, it was deemed less helpful for building a team and identifying export market opportunities (See table 1).
TABLE 1: Comparison of personal and business impact of peer support
Qualitative Analysis
When we analysed our qualitative interviews with eight domain experts, a number of themes and recommendations emerged. The following summarises the main findings.
Create awareness and access
There is a need to build awareness among entrepreneurs of the value of a peer support network and to create access points so entrepreneurs can build that support.
“Having people that will challenge you, argue with you, or just when you are feeling really, really low, they’ll give you a reality check good or bad.”
“Creating those access points so that, if I am an entrepreneur, I know how to get into that.”
Facilitation of peer support
Everyone in the ecosystem has a role to play in fostering peer support.
“Someone needs to facilitate, be it a governing body at the earlier stage, investors at the later stage and whoever it might be there needs to be an active attempt in order to engender peer-to-peer support; so therefore there needs to be an organised way of creating peer-to-peer groups.”
The case for State intervention
State intervention is required as long as long as the ecosystem is less supportive to women.
“There are inequalities. There are a huge number of societal norms that all contribute to making the environment far more challenging for women that it is for men.”
Quality matters
Good quality ideas in founders were seen as important and worth encouraging.
“It’s great to say we want more female founders, but what we keep missing, keep leaving out is, a lot more good or great female founders. The quality of the idea is important. There’s probably nothing more damaging than encouraging a potentially good entrepreneur spinning out with a weak idea.”
Find the best mentors and role models
The best mentor may not be female, and role models who are several years ahead on their entrepreneurial journey can be powerful.
“The role model is really important. Existing entrepreneurs who are part of a strong peer network talking about their experiences, I think is hugely powerful.”
There was a note of caution sounded however against poor mentors.
“You can get poor peer mentors, people who know nothing telling each other they know nothing.”
Organised events and forums
Organised events and forums could support female entrepreneurs in building peer networks.
“Provide forums that address serious business issues and tackle serious challenges, with men in the room to dissolve that negativity. Action is what comes out of serious peer-to-peer engagement.”
Provide fund raising advice
VCs can play a role in educating female entrepreneurs to understand investment strategy.
“Perhaps there could be more support specifically in relation to funding because I do think that this is a big area where women tend to struggle.”
Develop a peer support toolkit
A model can help to build peer networks and provide the basis for peer support.
“Entrepreneurship is built on the notion of a lone hero. I’m big. I’m strong. I can do it all on my own. It’s about coming up with a model that they [female entrepreneurs] can adopt. This is how a peer-to-peer support network works. This is how you interact.”
Recommendations
Based on the findings of this study, we recommend developing pillars of female peer support using existing resources and networks.
Pillar 1: Design
Design a strategy to connect existing supports. Led by Enterprise Ireland in partnership with startup ecosystem stakeholders (academia. Government, industry, female entrepreneurs), it would have a clear message and make use of technology to deliver information and provide access to resources.
Pillar 2: Develop
Develop a peer-support community that includes peer champions, role models, seasoned entrepreneurs, development advisors, program managers, professional
expert and established mentors.
Pillar 3: Deliver
Deliver an awareness campaign around the value of peer support, provide a toolkit for peer support and a gateway to allow female entrepreneurs to access peer support.
Pillar 4: Do
Organise activities, events and forums to tackle issues, provide educational workshops and facilitate networking. Learn from the success of Forum, a program developed by the Young Presidents’ Organization in the US, where trained peer recommended facilitators enable group discussions in an atmosphere of confidentiality and trust.
Conclusion
Limited research has been conducted to date on the value of peer support in female business venturing, so this study represents a significant contribution to the body of research in the female entrepreneurship and peer support literatures.
The overall conclusion from this study is that peer support has a high value for female entrepreneurs, and the findings identify ways to enable such support.
However, it is clear that this area of research is at a nascent stage and there is significant potential for future research including longitudinal research or comparative studies in different culture and countries.
Acknowledgements
“Without reflection, we go blindly on our way, creating more unintended consequences, and failing to achieve anything useful.”
Margaret J. Wheatley
Thanks to Ulster University Business School’s Dr. Kristel Miller and Dr. Darryl Cummins, and to Ms. Sarita Johnston, Manager of Female Entrepreneurship at Enterprise Ireland for sponsoring this research project, which was carried out as part of a Masters degree program at UU.
I am indebted to female entrepreneurs throughout the Republic of Ireland who gave of their time and experience to contribute to this research and in doing so will make a difference to all those who follow. In particular, I would like to recognise NDRC Female Founders (#ffORTE) for including me on their start-up journeys and for being a continued source of inspiration. Finally, my thanks to the entrepreneurship domain experts for the hours of engaging conversation which informed and enriched this study. Go raibh maith agaibh go léir.
Helen Fullen
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