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Bangladeshi Women and Self-Employment:

Options, Barriers and Solutions

Lead Author(s) Isebail MacKinnon, Project Manager, Dinar Ali, Development Worker

Organisation Street Cred, Quaker Social Action

Full postal address 45-47 Blythe Street, London, E2 6LNTel: 020 7729 9267 E-mail: [email protected]: www.quakersocialaction.com

Type of Paper: Working PaperPurpose: this research explores the barriers facing Bangladeshi women entering into self-employment and the possible solutions to such. The outcome is information on barriers faced and abank of solutions which might be applied so that business support can be provided which isappropriate to the needs of Bangladeshi women. The paper will also look at the current solutionsbeing used to overcome these barriers.Design/Methodology/Approach: existing research will be strengthened through the following

methods: Focus groups with members of the Bangladeshi community; observation of Street Cred(SC) clients; surveys with SC clients; results from a conference on barriers and solutions anddiscussions with existing Bangladeshi businesswomen.Findings: this paper will show the interim findings, as the research will continue until April 2008.Implications: entrepreneurs business support is more accessible. Bangladeshi femaleentrepreneurs: understand barriers and how to overcome them. Mainstream business supportagencies and practitioners: understanding how the Bangladeshi community operates as a wholeand their perception of business and enterprise. Greater awareness of Bangladeshi women andtheir needs therefore, allowing for the creation of tailor made business support.Community researchers feed into existing research and provide a basis for further research. Theimplications being that research can enable a better understanding of the needs of a client groupsand how that group can be better served by business support providers. Also, what steps theBangladeshi community can take to better enable women to start businesses. Street Cred Plan todevelop this piece of work as a resource for business support agencies, as well as educational piecefor the Bangladeshi community.Originality/Value: This research is carried out with and by the Bangladeshi community and itenables them to play a key role in describing the barriers faced by their community and thendeveloping possible solutions to those barriers. This research has been undertaken by working withthe Bangladeshi community and their organisations to get valid and valuable qualitative researchdone within this community.

Key Words: Bangladeshi Community. Women. Barriers. Self-employment. Business Support.Ethnic Minorities.

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1. PURPOSE

Our research

Our research forms part of the Bangladeshi Women and Enterprise Project, a specific piece ofwork undertaken for the London Development Agency. This is a one year project with the following

aims:

- to engage with women from the Bangladeshi community, make them aware of the option ofself employment and what mainstream services are available to assist them;

- to develop a brochure of successful female Bangladeshi business owners who can beappropriate role models for emerging entrepreneurs;

- to carry out research into the barriers faced by Bangladeshi women who wish to enter intoself employment and identify some of the solutions to those barriers;

- to develop a tool kit for business support providers which will be delivered to them viaseminars so that they are more informed about the needs of this client group and able toshape their services in an appropriate manner.

From the statistics and research that exists, it can be seen that there is an untapped resource ofBangladeshi women who could be starting new businesses. With the funding by the LDA of theLondon Bangladeshi Business Network this shows that there is an effort being made to support thiscommunity to start, grow and develop businesses. This is part of the overall aim by the UKgovernment to increase the number of ethnic minority and disadvantaged communities in self-employment by 2008 (BERR, 2005). As women are the most under represented group in UKenterprise, the Government's Strategic framework for Women's Enterprise set out a long termvision to build a culture for enterprise with the overall objective of increasing the numbers ofwomen starting and growing businesses (www.lda.gov.uk).

Going on from this, there is a realisation that there needs to be an element of diversity in theplanning for female business support, how is it possible to ensure that all women can obtain

information, support and advice on their businessthese may for example include Black andMinority Ethnic women.. (Business Priorities for Women's Enterprise in London Draft Consultation,LDA). Although Street Cred has been engaging with Bangladeshi women and supporting them intoself-employment since the project started in 1999, there has not been, until now, any specificresearch carried out into the barriers facing this group of clients. This arisen from a lack ofresources for such research rather than a lack of interest. Street Cred has always strived to listento and understand their clients needs, so in this way the project has developed to address specificneeds.

This paper

The focus of this paper is upon the barriers to self-employment experienced by Bangladeshiwomen in the UK and to explore various solutions that might be developed to assist Bangladeshiwomen to overcome these barriers.

This research has, to date, taken place in London within the Bangladeshi community of the eastLondon borough of Tower Hamlets. It is intended, before the end of the research period (April2008), to include input from a geographically wider range of Bangladeshi women within London.The research question explored here was; what are the barriers that affect Bangladeshi womenentering into self-employment and what are the possible solutions to those barriers?

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This working paper puts forward interim findings from the research. These will be added to byfurther research undertaken by Street Cred and by any external input forthcoming from thepresentation of this paper. The authors and Street Cred would welcome the opportunity to discussthe barriers and solutions identified and to take part in further research pertaining to Bangladeshiwomen. Whilst this paper offers a brief outline of the history and situation of the Bangladeshicommunity in the UK it is not its purpose to discuss this in depth but only to set the scene and gainan understanding of the history and culture which informs this research topic.

2. BANGLADESHI COMMUNITY IN THE UK

According to the 2001 census, the majority of the UK Bangladeshi population is based in theLondon and southeast area. There are approximately 140,000 with most originating from theSylhet area of Bangladesh. Approximately three quarters of this population live in the Borough ofTower Hamlets, where they represent 33% of the population, with smaller communities in Camden,Newham and Westminster. The Bangladeshi community from Sylheti has a distinct dialect and astrong cultural identity. It is recognized as a tight knit with strong internal communication networksand traditional core values that centre on the family, community and business. The Bangladeshi

population is one of the youngest in the UK with a high percentage of women in the 15-29 agerange.

There are some strong recurring factors to be found in the Bangladeshi communities in the UK.The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has carried out a wide variety of research on this community.Looking at their findings, several characteristics are evident. In terms of community, there is apreference to live in multi-generational households. Many live in wards with a predominatelyminority ethnic population and are most likely to live in the most deprived wards. There is anexpectation in the older generation that the custom of arranged marriages is kept and thattraditional divisions of labour within households are maintained. There is also concern to ensurechildren have access to cultural or religious activities.

High unemployment & low levels of economic activity

There is high unemployment amongst men, low levels of economic activity amongst women, lowpay and large families. Accordingly, 60 per cent of Bangladeshis are categorised as poor, withincomes less than 50% of the national average. This equals four times the poverty rate of thewhite population. The social security system provides a high proportion of income for Bangladeshipeople with a third arising from means-tested benefits. In 2001, 36% of ethnic Bangladeshiresidents in LBTH were economically inactive (compared to 26% of white). Educationally, whilethere are lower rates of educational attainment, those who have degrees risk the same povertylevels as a white person with no qualifications at all.(www.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/foundations/110.asp)

To try to give some background to this research, it is important to get a picture of Bangladeshiwomen and their rates of self-employment. In fact, there is very little data regarding Bangladeshiowned businesses overall. The new London Bangladeshi Business Network has recognized this andstated that one of their aims is to gather base line in order to provide appropriate support to thesebusinesses. Tower Hamlets note that Bangladeshi females between 16 and 74 years old have aneconomic inactivity rate of 75.2% within their borough (www.towerhamlets.gov.uk).

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A source of very useful information is recent work from the SBS (2006) regarding womensbusiness ownership drawing on an analysis of the 2001 Census. This shows that the self-employment rates of women are lowest within the Bangladeshi community at 0.9% asshown below in the table used in the report.

Figure 1: Self-employment Rate by Gender of All Aged 16-74 England & WalesNote: White refers to White British, White Irish and White Other groups; Ethnic Minority refers

to Non-White Ethnic Minorities.

In 2004 Bangladeshi and Pakistani women had the highest working-age economic inactivity

rates in Great Britain (75% and 69% respectively). These rates were up to three times the ratesfor White British, White Irish and Black Caribbean women (between 25% and 26%). The majoritystated they were looking after their family or home (Annual Population Survey, Feb 2006).The2001 Individual Sample of Anonymised Records gave a sample of 25,199 working age (aged 20-64) self-employed women, which when multiplied by 33.3, estimates that there were 839,126 self-employed women in England and Wales in 2001. This estimate can be broken down by selectedethnic groups to show that in 2001 there were 779,919 White, 22,144 Indian, 4,861 Pakistani, 999Bangladeshi, 4,628 Black Caribbean, 3,796 Black African, 8,857 Chinese, 6,227 Mixed ethnicity,and 7,692 Other ethnicity self-employed women, aged 20-64, in England and Wales. Working-agemen and women from non-White ethnic groups were generally more likely than those from Whitegroups to be economically inactive, that is, not available for work and/or not actively seeking work.Reasons include; being a student, being disabled or looking after the family and home. Within eachethnic group, women were more likely than men to be economically inactive.

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3. STREET CRED & WORK WITH BANGLADESHI WOMEN

Street Cred is a project of Quaker Social Action, which is a regeneration charity that has beenworking to reduce poverty in east London since 1867 and therefore, has developed a strongpresence and reputation in the community. Street Cred is a micro-credit project that has beenadapted from the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. Street Cred provides free advice, support,

business training and micro-credit loans to women who are unemployed or on benefits in fourboroughs of East London to develop their business ideas.

Street Cred was developed in 1999 as a response to the needs of women, mostly Bangladeshi,from the local community to access small amounts of start up money to enable income generation.In the eight years that Street Cred has operated, it has engaged with the Bangladeshi communityand this has enabled it to develop its services to meet the needs of that community. At present,Street Cred has a full time development worker focusing on Tower Hamlets and its Bangladeshicommunity and this has greatly enhanced the projects ability to engage with and carry out thisresearch in the community.

Barriers to self-employment

Street Cred has had experience of working with Bangladeshi women to assist them into self-employment since 1999. From this experience we have developed a strong awareness of thebarriers faced by Bangladeshi women who would like to explore self-employment. We described alist of these below. Whilst we have this experience and can list barriers, it was thought importantthat research was carried out to ensure that the information on barriers was current and also, thatit came directly from Bangladeshi women living in the east end of London in 2007.

The following table lists the barriers that the Street Cred team has come across when workingwith Bangladeshi women in east London during 1999-2007.

Low confidence and self-esteem

Childcare and other caring responsibilities

No access to networks of people in the same situation

No identification with business as described in mainstream

Perceived lack of experience and skills

Prejudice and stereotyping potentially from suppliers, and mainstream

support/finance

Lack of information about available services

Lack of access to affordable finance

Lack of knowledge about U.K regulations and unfamiliarity with jargon

used in business sector/ mainstream business support sector.

Bad previous experiences of learning

Lack of marketing skills

Family dynamics and expectations working against individual aspirations

Faith and community expectations/ perceptions in relation to finance,

suitable types of business, ideas of success/ achievements

Difficulties in breaking into mainstream markets

Lack of relevant real-life role models

Language barriers

Appropriate business support services.

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4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

This research has been carried out by members of the Street Cred team, using the followingmethodologies: focus groups, informal conversations, Introductory Workshops, existing research,discussions and a conference.

4.1 Focus groups - with an existing group of 55 Bangladeshi female clients.

4.2 Informal conversations - with potential new Bangladeshi clients identified throughoutreach carried out by the Street Cred team.

4.3 Introductory workshops - The barriers regarding entry into self-employment werediscussed at the Introductory Workshops held where Bangladeshi women were present.

The majority of this evidence gathering was undertaken by Dinar Ali, a British born member ofthe Bangladeshi community of East London. The fact that Dinar Ali is a member of the community,

as well as having the experience of working with Bangladeshi women from the first, second andnow the third generation for the last ten years and has very strong links with the community hasmade a strong contribution to the success of the research. As a development worker for thisproject, Dinar supports women into self-employment by providing, basic business training, ongoingsupport and micro credit loans. Through this work she has built a strong reputation in thecommunity and relationships with community organizations and their workers. This meant thatrespondents would speak to someone who is a trusted member the community.

It should be recognised that Street Cred provides its services to women who are unemployed oron a low income. Consequently, the evidence that gathered came from Bangladeshi women who fitinto that socio-economic profile and is not representative of experiences of all Bangladeshi women.This research was carried out in London and mainly in the Bangladeshi communities of east wherethe Street Cred project operates. However, through our links with community organisations serving

the Bangladeshi community in other areas of London, it was possible to include Bangladeshi womenfrom other areas in London in this research.

4.4 Existing research - In the process of this project, we have looked at existing research;whilst there is some work on the barriers faced by Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communitiesand some on Bangladeshi women and employment, there is little focus on self-employment andbarriers.

4.5 Bangladeshi Women & Self employment: Options, Barriers andSolutions conference

The other main approach to evidence gathering was from a one-day conference with 58

delegates held in November, 2007. The aim being to bring together Bangladeshi women, projectstaff from those working with the Bangladeshi community and business advisors who hadexperience of working within the community. The first part of the conference was used to discussthe option of self-employment and to promote it to project staff as an option that they couldpromote to their service users. Through the work that Street Cred has undertaken in east London,it is evident that many organisations and projects are not raising self-employment as an option andthis in itself is a barrier. At the conference, five discussion groups were set up, each with afacilitator who took notes on ideas put forward which were identified as barriers to self-employment for Bangladeshi women and then, what were seen as possible solutions to such.

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The table below is a transcript of barriers and solutions raised and discussed during the conference.These have been separated out into five different categories of Culture, Religion, Attitudes,Education and Training and Business and Finance.

Categories Barriers SolutionCulture Lack of family support/ lack of

independence within a familystructure/ too many extendedfamily responsibility/ or noextended family for support inchildcare/family given prioritytherefore limited time forbusiness developmentCultural emphasis/ traditionalreasons and values/ customsmight be a hindrance/ lack ofcommunity support due tonarrow mindedness/Perception of both sexes andtheir role in life/ not taken

seriously/ dress/image/ womenin businessMale attitude-fear of losingcontrol, insecurity, (Maledomination)/ resistingchange/concerned aboutwomen progressing more/power shifts when womenearns more then her husband,concern about interaction withmen

Helping sisters within our familiesEducate family and friends toadvantages of women in businessChildcare provision/ crchefacilities/ Child care facilities moregeared to cultural and religiousawarenessGetting positive support/network/partnership working/better community supportLook into culture background andcommunity/ urban vs. village

Include husband in business

Family workshops involving thewhole familyUnderstand power andrelationships

Educating matriarchs aboutpositives

Partner with the right man foryou

Religion / Faith

Confusion over religion andculture/ lack of understandingof own religion

Sharia law on finance

Educate leaders in mosques andthen educate people/ work withcommunity Leaders (Imams atmosques)

Educate that business/ faithculture do not need to clashEmphasize to husband thatmarriage is an equal partnershipaccording to religion

Develop Islamic finance products

Personal attitudetowards business andself-employment

Lack of confidence/ personalbelief I cant do it / in yourproduct services or skills/ lowself esteem/ fear of failingagain and again.Self employment does not havea guaranteed salary, as oppose

Can do attitude/belief in oneselfand let be know/ find others whoare in your situation (build up agroup network)Create a Bangladeshi womensclub to share experience andresolves issues

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to employment Allay fearsRelevant role models

More ambassadors of womenenterprise

Using status and marketing

Encourage others and self to thinkBIG

Education Trainingand knowledge

Language barrierLack of training knowledge andeducation/ Lack of recognitionof qualification and skills gainedin previous country of residence

Highly qualified Bengali women

find it hard to find partners onthe same qualification levels.

Information to complex/ not inthe right language

Misinformation

Attain relevant qualifications

Better educational structure (topromote life skills)

Business support andFinance

Loans have interest (haram)

Lack of capital

No recourse to public fund

Financial burden-poverty

Welfare state barrier

Organisations need support to

support SC?

Lack of female business advice/lack of ongoing support

Eligibility criteria for businesssupport

More flexibility within supportorganisation

Develop Islamic financeSmall loan provision such asStreet Cred micro credit system

Promote organisation such as SC

Educate all different types andsizes of business

Research extensive

Being thorough in checkingviability of your business

More validation from others

Network more in schools andcommunitiesAdvertise to grow awarenessMore accessible loans

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Tokenism with business supportagencies

Business language not cateringfor ethnic minority

Reacting positively to feedback

Be a good leader to self and staffMore organisations offeringsupport and creating pathways toaction/ supporting women intoself-employmentClear aims and objective/find outwhat you want and then how toachieve it

Business course/business plansSuitable for needs of clients

5. FINDINGSIn this paper, we are discussing the findings to date and asking for comments on this research

so there is a more complete picture of the barriers and solutions. There is much work to be done toreally unpick these groups of barriers identify the underlying causes and from that, understand howreal and long lasting solutions can be developed. This will enable the rates of business start-ups byBangladeshi women to increase to a level with the rest of the UK population.

The findings from the research have been placed in five main categories: Culture; Religion;Personal attitudes; Education, training and knowledge; and Business support & finance.

Although some barriers have a combination of factors they have been placed in the category that isseen as the main one that is creating the barrier for Bangladeshi women considering and entering

into self-employment.

5.1 Culture

The cultural aspects that impact on Bangladeshi women entering into self-employment reallycentre on the traditional family structures and expectations that exist. The family unit plays animportant role with marriage and children being of very high importance for Bangladeshi womenmany of whom have an expectation of being married by the age of 20 with pressure often beingapplied by the older generation. Often the family is the foundation for both 'social and economiclife'. Dependency is placed upon the eldest, whose responsibility is to care and provide for the

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others in the family. The family will reside in one household and when the son marries the wife willbe brought to his home. The family and the extended family is the basis from which the familymight socialise. It is seen as a protective and closed circle where duty, respect and love are keyfactors.

After marriage the cultural expectation is that women should stay home and run thehousehold. For a Bangladeshi woman, household activities and taking care of a dependent familymember is almost always the case. Women who come to the UK on a marriage visa will beparticularly subject to this expectation. This group of women can find it very difficult to findemployment. The principal factors in this are that they are new to this country, unfamiliar with theprocesses of gaining employment, have little or no qualifications and often have a language barrier.Culturally within households men are seen as the breadwinner and women as the ones who havethe task of raising a respectable family. If they are to work, then ideally it should be part-time. Thisenables them to devote enough time to their caring responsibilities of looking after the householdand their family duties.

Most Bangladeshi women choose to stay at home when they have children, and those who carryon working usually look to family support for childcare needs. For those interviewed that were inemployment, they try to work around family commitments often by taking up part time jobs andworking flexible hours. This in turn can have a negative effect on their education and career.

Following marriage, having children is important traditionally, there was a pressure from the oldergeneration to have children soon after marriage and this expectation persists within some families.This can be attributed to the fact that married couples now want to provide more in terms offinancial support as well as giving time to children as they are growing up. There is now however,within some families, a change in attitudes, as the Bangladeshi community now has memberswho are of second and third generation, and many go on to further education and employmentbefore getting married. Some of the older clients interviewed admit that when they were younger,they did not feel that education for women was of that much importance, as long as they knew howto be a good homemaker. Their thinking around this has now changed and they encourage theirdaughters to study and take up a career.

Lack of family support can often hinder a business idea while support of the family unit can be

the foundation to a successful business by providing support in terms of assistance with childcare,family responsibilities and financial resources. The pressure of family responsibilities can be adisincentive to setting up a business. In the Bangladeshi community family responsibility isexpected to be given priority and can include taking care of in-laws, children and majority of thehousehold work. Otherwise, it will change the dynamics of the whole family, which is a challengingthought for many as this is not the perceived norm. However, many of the interviewees felt that ifthe family earned an income through self-employment, this would mean an improved lifestyle forthe whole family. There was a need for this vision of improved financial prospects to be sharedwith the family and that this might help family members see self-employment in a positive lightand support Bangladeshi women family members in setting up a business.

Street Cred clients from the Bangladeshi community choose self-employment as an optionbecause it allows them to have flexibility and enables them to work around family commitments. It

also allows them to in an environment that they are comfortable with and where they can generateincome from a source that they choose. A high percentage of the clients see part-time work assuitable as they do not view themselves as having a role as breadwinners but they can make useof their skills to have an independent income where they can decide where it is spent or tocontribute to the household. This is supported by the recent report from Links UK, the national armof Community Links entitled Self-Employment and Micro-entrepreneurs: Informal Trading andJourney towards Formalisation. The study was based on 23 semi-structured interviews, eight ofwhich were Bangladeshi women from Street Cred. When asked the question, how important is theincome from informal Trading towards the house hold income? 1 said that it is marginal and 7 saidthat it is partial.

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SOLUTIONS SUGGESTED

In the possible solutions that were suggested there was a need for more solidarity and help fromthe female members of extended families to enable those who wish to start their ownbusinesses. Added to this there seems to be a need to educate that extended family on theadvantages that there can be from starting a business. And that this does not need to be seen asat odds with the traditional role of women within their families. There is a need to get both maleand female members of the community supportive of women entering into self-employment,particularly those women with power within families and communities. Perhaps a solution would befamily workshops.The levels of need for these solutions are dependent on the attitude and background of a particularfamily group. Not all Bangladeshi families have the same attitudes and knowledge around self-employment.To enable women to take forward business ideas there is a need for more and better childcareprovision/ crche facilities. There was also a suggestion of a need for childcare providers to beeducated to the cultural and religious needs of the community so that suitable facilities can beprovided.What the overall solutions here seem to be are around the Bangladeshi community and the needfor members of that community to change their attitude to women entering into self-employment

and to develop supportive community networks and systems to enable those women to taketheir ideas forward and contribute to the economic development of that community. Thesuggestions were often around the needs of getting a positive support/ networks/partnershipworking/ better community support.

5.2 ReligionThere are different religions observed in the Bangladeshi community. The women interviewed

during this research were all Muslim and for the purposes of this paper the religion referred to isIslam. Religious barriers to Bangladeshi women entering into self-employment are hard todisengage from cultural barriers. Many members of the Bangladeshi community themselvesmay not be able to decide which factors are cultural norms and which are faith based as religionand culture are so strongly intertwined. Although each Bangladeshi Muslim woman observes herfaith on her own personal terms and in an individual manner, her faith is still a centrally importantpart of her life. The main religious barriers that might emerge are around sectors to work in. theIslamic faith prohibits being employed in certain jobs such as those involving alcohol or meat,particularly if it is not halal. For some it is also important that they do not come into contact withmen who are from outside their immediate family. In order to gain the support of their families,

some of the business women felt that the family needed to be educated in terms of culture andreligion and the actual teachings of the Islamic faith. They saw that the Islamic faith teaches thatwomen in Islam have an invaluable role in the heart of their families, their communities and thewider society and all women are need to be educated and have a place as role models, as they arethe ones that bind their families together and make their communities stronger. It was felt thatthe solution lies in education and raising awareness with the assistance of people of authoritywithin the community such as the Imams of the mosques and reaching and influencing thecommunity to change attitudes through them.

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An example of this is an event on self-employment for Bangladeshi women, held in the EastLondon Mosque. At this event, the Imam gave a talk to the delegates about how Islamic faith seesemployment and said that it was acceptable for Bangladeshi women to be in self-employment. Thiswas related back to the fact that the Prophet Mohammeds (PBUH) wife had been a self-employedwoman. However, the Imam stressed the fact that it was important that Bangladeshi women didnot forget their family responsibilities. This type of engagement with traditional community leadersis important in order to inform and change attitudes within the community. For business advisors itis important that they have an awareness of the importance of faith on their clients and to have atleast a small degree of knowledge of what the elements of that faith are. An example of this isthat one of the basic rules of Islam is that men and women who are not from their immediatefamily are not allowed to have any form of physical contact therefore, hand shaking is not allowed.Having an awareness of this will prevent any embarrassment or awkward situations. This willenable them to take these needs into consideration and provide suitable services for theirBangladeshi female clients. Another religious barrier is around finance for business. To adhere tothe Islamic Shari-ah law on finance has been raised as an important issue. This requires aspecific financial product for business start-up finance to be developed and made available to thosethat require it.

SOLUTIONS SUGGESTED

The solutions that centred on religion were on raising awareness and educating the recognisedleaders within the community. These can often be the same people who are leaders in mosques.Members of the community may have concerns and need guidance on whether business and faithare at odds.There is also a need to raise awareness to husbands and perhaps to all members of the family ofwhat Islam says regarding marriage. Islam states that marriage is an equal partnership.A particular area of concern to many Muslims is regarding the need to have financial productsthat are compliant with Shariah Law. There is a huge lack of provision of this type of financialproduct in the market.

5.3 Personal attitude

To have a positive personal attitude to self-employment is essential. If the self-belief andconfidence necessary for business start-up are missing, this will often lead to abandonment of theidea of setting up a business. Women are more likely to let the fear of failing stop them beforethey start to develop a business and this results in women often being defined by their cautiousapproach to business start-up. Particularly true in the Bangladeshi community is the fact thatwomen lack role models and are less likely to know someone that has started their own business.

They are also less likely to feel that they have the skills needed to start a business and maybe lesslikely to see and pursue business opportunities.

The attitudes of other members of the community can impact on the attitudes of the individualBangladeshi female. There is often an attitude that if it is not a business where you are clearlygoing to make a lot of money then what is the point in bothering with it. There may be an attitudetowards the type of business, e.g. some women consider it to be an embarrassment to tell localneighbours about a catering business run from home, as opposed to a sari shop. This is reflectiveof a class system within the community where having a catering business may be seen asdemeaning and a lower class activity. There is often a lack of information around self-

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employment and some people who are actually working at home may not even see themselves asbeing self-employed and most certainly not an entrepreneur.

Often, thinking about what they see as being the perception of non-Bangladeshis towards aBangladeshi woman can further hinder them from taking the business to the next level. There maybe a level of concern regarding the negative media portrayals of Islam and what a non-Muslimmight be thinking when approached by a Muslim person. Being confident about ones appearance isimportant; many clients will not leave their traditional dress to promote themselves in business.There is an issue about whether Bangladeshi may use this as an obstacle from further developingones business. This is based on concern over non-Muslims perception might be. However there isthe opportunity to challenge those perceptions to enable people to gain a positive experienceby drawing people attention to what they say and do, and not the type of clothes they wear.

SOLUTIONS SUGGESTED

There was a lot of discussion around the attitudes of women in the Bangladeshi community.However there was a realisation that Bangladeshi women are not all the same and there are somevery successful female owned Bangladeshi businesses. To develop a more positive communityattitude and to encourage Bangladeshi women to consider self-employment there is a need forrelevant role models to be given a higher profile and who could be ambassadors for self-employment.What would seem to be needed is the development of support structures and use of relevant rolemodels to encourage a can do attitude /belief in oneself. This would be also be encouraged byperhaps networks where women who are experiencing similar situations could share and supporteach other. A suggestion was to create a Bangladeshi womens club to share experience andresolves issues. There was mention again in this section of the need to allay fears. These are thefears of women who may be thinking of becoming self-employed and may stem from the instabilitythat may be experienced. There is a second group of fears from other members of the communitywho may be concerned that women who become self-employed will shift away from their familyand cultural responsibilities. Solutions for this would involve working with the communityleaders to build a more positive picture of women and self-employment.

5.4 Education training and knowledge

Part of the barrier here is the need for Bangladeshi women to be assisted and encouraged torecognise the transferable skills that they have and realizing the potential that they have as anindividual. Starting a business can help with this process and inspire them to get furtherqualifications and training. Conversely, there is the need to have training in place beforeindividuals are in a position to consider business start-up. Although education and training is alarge barrier for those from the first generation of Bangladesh immigrants it is increasingly less of abarrier for those who are second or third generation. Language is, for some, a large barrier. Mostof the older generation have not been born in the UK and have limited, or no English, when they

immigrated to the UK. This, together with a lack of formal qualifications, created barriers to bothemployment and self-employment, particularly in jobs that were outside the Bangladeshicommunity. However, some of the clients at Street Cred have started in business despite thelanguage barrier. These businesses focus on using their existing skills and not on qualifications.Often, if supplying services to their own community, these businesses do not involve the need togain high levels of language skills.

SOLUTIONS SUGGESTED

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What came through in this section regarding solutions was the need for Bangladeshi women to gainrelevant qualifications. This may be linked to a need to have a more positive attitude to theeducation of women in all areas of academic achievement. There was seen to be a need for abetter educational structure to promote life skills. This is also linked to a need to recognise thetransferable skills that women have that can be used in a business setting.

5.5 Business Support & Finance

The traditional language around business creates a barrier, as it does not assist individuals tosee business as something that they could do or, that relates to what they are doing, even if theyare already self-employed. The language needs to be broken down, as many do not relate to wordssuch as enterprise, and entrepreneurs. Business advisors need to use language that will relateto their clients. An example of this is, instead of using Start your own business use instead, earnmoney for your self or give yourself a job. With the consideration of the other barriers such asculture and religion business advisors need to ensure that business support and training is not justabout profits but has a holistic approach. Also, business ideas involving small, home-based, part-

time business are often not taken seriously by business advisors.

Another barrier is a lack of female business advisors, as many Bangladeshi women would notfeel comfortable in the company of men who are from outside their immediate family.

Community support organizations have a role to promote self-employment to their serviceusers. Self-employment can provide a route out of poverty and social exclusion particularly forBangladeshi women for whom employment has the same, or perhaps even more, barriers thanself-employment. Many of the interviewees raised the issue about access to finance. This can bea barrier particularly if they are on benefits or a low income. There is also an issue around the lackof access to business start up finance that is compliant with the Islamic Shari-ah law on finance.

SOLUTIONS SUGGESTED

The solutions that came forward regarding business support were that there were moreorganisations offering support and creating pathways to action/ supporting women into self-employment. From this there was a need for those business support organisations to besuitable to the needs of the clients. This is about service provision and about staff developmentand training so that they are aware of the needs of clients so that they can shape their approach.Part of this is the need for advice and training to be provided in a way that is pitched at the levelneeded and in a way that is relevant to the types of businesses that are being developed. A lot ofthis solution is around the need for less jargon in training materials, particularly in the earlystages of business development, as this has been identified as a barrier to people progressing withtheir business ideas.

Another solution that was suggested was the need for more networking in schools and communitiesto encourage self-employment as an option. This is something that business supportorganisations could do and is linked to the need for them to advertise more to the Bangladeshicommunity to raise awareness of their services.

Part of the responsibility for these solutions was also put on the Bangladeshi women who were in orentering into self-employment. There was seen a need to have clear aims and objective and to findout what you want and then how to achieve it. There was a need to be realistic and thorough inchecking the viability of your business ideas. This is about taking initiative and control overwhat you want to do but was also tempered by the need for others to give your business ideas

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validity and to give Bangladeshi women entering into self-employment a positive environment inwhich to develop their businesses.

Regarding finance the solutions where focussed on the need to develop access to finance andalso to the development of appropriate financial products. The main need that was identifiedwas to have Islamic finance. This is one way that entrepreneurs can be helped to balance their self-employment with observing their faith. A solution that was put forward was for there to be moresmall loan provision such as Street Cred micro credit system.

6. POSSIBLE IMPLICATIONS

This research has implications for a range of individuals and organisations. For potentialBangladeshi female entrepreneurs it could lead to support services being delivered in a moreappropriate manner suitable to their needs. For business advisors, this research can help toshape services to the needs of this particular client group. They can develop a better understandingof Bangladeshi women coming to them for business support and how to reach out to these clients.This research can also help to remove some of the stereotypes that exist around Bangladeshi

women. The methodology can be adapted and used by others to gather information on clientgroups regarding their needs and to create sustainable affective solutions to any barriers that exist.There is also a need to develop this research unpick the causes of barriers highlighted and todevelop sustainable solutions. There are implications of this research for those involved ineducation and training. There were issues raised around education, including the language usedand accessibility that can be taken on board and from which service delivery can be adapted.

7. CONCLUSION

This research was undertaken to identify responses to the question what are the barriers toself-employment that are experienced by Bangladeshi women in the UK and what solutions can bedeveloped to assist Bangladeshi women overcome these barriers?. Initially, it was envisaged thatthe solutions to these barriers would be put in place by business support organisations but, fromlooking at the suggested solutions it can be seen that these involve a much wider range ofstakeholders e.g. involving community leaders to change perceptions of self-employment and

empowering Bangladeshi women to challenge the barriers that affect them.

There are certain limitations to this research. The women interviewed are all from theBangladeshi community in East London and the majority are from the same socio-economic group.It can be seen that there is a need to have a wider representation of Bangladeshi women. Lookingat the barriers, it can also be seen that the issues facing Bangladeshi women are those that canface any woman from any culture to a certain degree, but that some are experienced at a higherlevel for women from the Bangladeshi community. It is possible to perhaps look back and see thatwomen in the UK would have faced these barriers in the not too distant past. There is the need alsoto recognise that women, and again Bangladeshi women, should not be viewed as a homogeneous

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group as each will have a very personal experience of these barriers. One of the major influenceson this is their socio-economic status and, if they are married, that of their husbands family.Another factor affecting how women experience these barrier is whether they are from the first,second or third generation of Bangladeshi immigration and is reflective of what stage ofacculturation the individual is.

Street Cred will continue with this research until April 2008 as part of their contract with the LDAand then use their involvement with the Bangladeshi community and organisations to develop itfurther on a more ad hoc basis in the course of their project work. We would welcome any inputand support from others interested in this subject and carrying on or adding to this research. Thekey contribution of this paper is that it adds to the existing body of research on womens enterpriseand, more particularly, to that on ethnic womens enterprise. The research that has been carriedout was done in the heart of the Bangladeshi community in east London and contains valuableanecdotal evidence from Bangladeshi women. Its importance is that the members of thatcommunity described both the barriers and the possible solutions to those barriers.

REFERENCES

BERR, 2005. The Way Forward 2005-2008. The Ethnic Minority Business Forum. Available at:www.berr.gov.uk/files/file38528.pdfAccessed 12 January 2008BODEN, R. 2005. The UK Social Security System for Self-Employed People. Berlin:Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin fr Sozialforschung, http://skylla.wz-berlin.de/pdf/2005/i05-104.pdf.Accessed 12 January 2008CARTER, S. AND SHAW, E., 2006. Womens Business Ownership: Recent Research and PolicyDevelopments, Report to the Small Business Service. London.DCLG,2006. Engaging with Muslim Women: A report from the Prime Ministers Event 10 May 2006 .London: Department for Communities and Local Government.DWP, 2006. Barriers to Pakistani and Bangladeshi Women into Employment. London. Departmentof Work and Pensions, Research Report DWPRR 360.DWP, 2007. Pakistani and Bangladeshi Women Attitude to Work and Family. London. CorporateDocument Services, Research Report 458. September 2007. Available atwww.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5/rrs-index.asp. Accessed 12 January 2008.GARBIN, D. Bangladeshi Diaspora in the UK: socio-cultural dynamics, religious trends andtransnational politics. University of Surrey. DRAFT VERSION - JUNE 2005. Available atwww.swadhinata.org.uk/studies.htm accessed 9 January 2008

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LONDON DEVELOPMENT AGENCY. Business Priorities for Women's Enterprise in London DraftConsultation. London. Available at www.lda.gov.uk, accessed 10th January 2008OFFICE FOR NATIONAL STATISTICS, 2006. AnnualPopulation Survey, January 2004 to December2004. London. Office for National StatisticsPROWESS, 2004. Bridging the Enterprise Gap: strategies to support socially excluded women intoself-employment. Norwich. Prowess Ltd.WEIR, G. (2003) Self-employment in the UK labour market. Labour Market Trends September2003. Available at ww.statistics.gov.uk/articles/labour_market_trends/self_employment_1203.pdf.Accessed 10 January 2008.LINKS UK, 2007. Self-Employment and Micro-entrepreneurs: Informal Trading and Journeytowards Formalisation. Draft Report. Community Links. London.WEBSITESwww.ipa.co.uk/diversity/communities_asian.html accessed 9 Januarywww.jrf.org.uk/knowledge/findings/foundations/110.asp as retrieved on 5 Janwww.banglalink.co.uk/index.php?option=com_content&Itemid=39&task=view&id=120 - 23k.Accessed 9 January 2008www.towerhamlets.gov.uk/data/discover/data/borough-profile/data/borough-profile/population/data/ethnicity.cfm. Accessed 10th January 2008

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