Contemporary Female Entrepreneurship in Nicaragua
| Autor | Michael J. Pisani |
| Cargo | PhD, University of Texas - Pan-American [Now the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley] |
| Páginas | 5-20 |
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AD-MINISTER
AD-minister Nº. 33 julio - diciembre 2018 pp. 5 - 20 · ISSN 1692-0279 · eISSN 2256-4322
MICHAEL J. PISANI
JEL: J16·L26·N16
Received: 19/01/2018
Modified: 28/03/2018
Accepted:17/10/2018
DOI: 10.17230/ad-minister.33.1
www.eafit.edu.co/ad-minister
Creative Commons (CC BY-NC- SA)
Contemporary Female Entrepreneurship
in Nicaragua1
Emprendimiento femenino contemporáneo en Nicaragua2
MICHAEL J. PISANI
ABSTRACT
Women are important entrepreneurial actors within the Nicaraguan economic ecosystem. Majority fe-
male-owned firms comprise 32.7% of all urban Nicaraguan formal enterprises; these ownership rates
far exceed the regional (21.8%) or global averages (14.5%). Within Nicaragua, self-employment rates
for women (43.3%) surpass that of men (28.3%). This article describes the contemporary Nicaraguan
entrepreneurial landscape for female-owned enterprises using the 2016 Nicaraguan Enterprise Survey of
333 formal sector urban-based firms conducted by the World Bank. Principal multivariate results include
the concentration of female top management with majority female-ownership, the role of the informal
sector in spawning formal female enterprises, and size constraints of female-owned enterprises.
KEY WORDS
Female Entrepreneurship, Nicaragua
RESUMEN
Las mujeres son importantes actores empresariales dentro del ecosistema económico nicaragüense. La
mayoría de las empresas propiedad de mujeres comprenden el 32,7% de todas las empresas formales
urbanas de Nicaragua; estas tasas de propiedad exceden con creces los promedios regionales (21,8%)
o globales (14,5%). Dentro de Nicaragua, las tasas de autoempleo de las mujeres (43,3%) superan a las
de los hombres (28,3%). Este artículo describe el panorama empresarial nicaragüense contemporáneo
para las empresas propiedad de mujeres utilizando la Encuesta de Empresas Nicaragüenses 2016 de
333 empresas urbanas del sector formal realizadas por el Banco Mundial. Los principales resultados
multivariantes incluyen la concentración de la alta dirección femenina con la propiedad mayoritaria de
mujeres, el papel del sector informal en el desarrollo de empresas femeninas formales y las limitaciones
de tamaño de las empresas de mujeres.
PALABRAS CLAVE
Emprendimiento femenino, Nicaragua
1 This article complies with standard academic ethical practices. The secondary data used (exempt
from IRB review) was collected under the auspices of the World Bank Enterprise Survey group and is
warehoused with the World Bank. Public account news sources were also utilized. No external funding
was used in this research and there are no conflicts of interest (or competing interests) in the production
of this research. This research is original and has not been submitted or published elsewhere.
2 Este artículo cumple con las prácticas éticas académicas estándar. Los datos secundarios utilizados
(exentos de la revisión del IRB) se recopilaron bajo los auspicios del grupo de la Encuesta Empresarial
del Banco Mundial y se almacenan en el Banco Mundial. También se utilizaron fuentes de noticias de
cuentas públicas. No se utilizó financiamiento externo en esta investigación y no hay conflictos de
interés (o intereses en conflicto) en la producción de esta investigación. Esta investigación es original
y no ha sido enviada o publicada en otro lugar.
3 PhD, University of Texas - Pan-American [Now the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley]. Professor
of International Business, Central Michigan University. E-mail: m.pisani@cmich.edu ORCID ID#: 0000-
0001-7773-5951
Michael J. Pisani
Emprendimiento femenino contemporáneo en Nicaragua
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AD-MINISTER
INTRODUCTION
With less than a $15 dollar investment, Jessica Flores began her Nicaraguan micro-
business out of necessity to help pay for her college tuition (Rivas, 2017a, 2017b). In
2009, Ms. Flores was studying industrial engineering in Managua, Nicaragua and hit
on the idea to introduce her own line of pet medicines. She grew up as a pet lover
and knew how to deworm dogs. At first, she sold her pet deworming medicines (and
deworming service) door to door and gradually built up a steady clientele. By the
time she graduated from university, Ms. Flores expanded her business to include a
full range of health services for pets, including grooming, surgery, and lab work—in
essence Ms. Flores had created a pet clinic. The business grew and transitioned from
an informal itinerant business operation to a fixed-location formal enterprise that
in 2017 includes a second pet clinic, eight employees, and a growing product line
including a recently developed dog shampoo. Ms. Flores is among a unique group
of female entrepreneurs operating formal enterprises with employees, comprising
2.9% of all economically active women, in Nicaragua (INIDE, 2017), the topic of this
article. To this end, location and context matters greatly within the framework of
entrepreneurial research (Welter, 2010), and this is particularly so when gender is
considered (Marlow & Martinez Dy, 2017).
Doing business in Nicaragua, the second poorest nation in the Western
Hemisphere with a per capita income of $1,940, is challenging (World Bank, 2017a).
For ease of doing business, the World Bank ranks Nicaragua 127th worst out of all
190 countries surveyed and ranks Nicaragua 26th worst of 32 countries in Latin
America (The World Bank, 2017b). For example, the World Bank estimates the initial
regulatory costs of starting a formal business in Nicaragua is 68 percent of per capita
GDP (World Bank, 2017a). The consequence of such onerous government oversight
is a very large informal sector (Brenes & Cruz, 2016; Pisani & Pagán, 2004) where
formality may be as much an exception, rather than the norm, particularly for small
business concerns (Pisani, 2016).
Sanz and Lazzaroni (2008) note additional barriers to enterprise development
in Nicaragua such as access to financing, closed social networks, low levels of
education and administrative experience, and lack of an economic climate that
facilitates and fosters entrepreneurship. For example, family business groups
are common in Central America. They often dominate local markets while
maintaining relatively closed social networks organized by familial affiliation
(Frutos-Bencze, 2017). Yet, formal business enterprises do emerge and may grow
and prosper, even in challenging economic environments like Nicaragua, such
as Ms. Flores’ pet clinics described above. And not all the business and economic
news is bad for Nicaragua, current economic growth hovers around five percent
with inflation contained at around three percent (Banco Central de Nicaragua,
2017).
In this country of more than six million people, Nicaraguan women have
played important roles as leaders in society, the political arena, and business,
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