More and more women are starting their own businesses but, for many, the road to entrepreneurship is still fraught with obstacles. Mentoring programmes could help remedy this, according to a British-American study.

The scientists behind this research, published in the journal Marketing Science, came to this conclusion after conducting an experiment with 930 Ugandan entrepreneurs, 40% of whom were women. The average age of participants was 31, and each had two children.

The entrepreneurs had either stopped their studies after obtaining a high-school diploma or equivalent, or had continued their studies in higher education.

Volunteers were randomly assigned to a control group or a study group. Individuals in the latter received support from a mentor with more entrepreneurial experience, so that the researchers could determine whether the participants benefited from this support.

And while this appeared to be the case, the experts found that women entrepreneurs benefited more from the support of women mentors. Those who were supported by male mentors “did not significantly improve their performance” compared to those in the control group.

In fact, the scientists observed that when a female entrepreneur was guided by a woman mentor, her sales increased by an average of 32%. “Female mentor-mentee arrangements were characterised by more positive engagements,” the study authors noted.

This could perhaps be explained by the fact that female mentors have likely gone through the same difficulties as the women they support. They thus know the levers to use to overcome them, and how to shape their own careers in a professional world that can still be hostile to women entrepreneurs.

Indeed, the entrepreneurial ecosystem remains marked by strong gender disparity. Women tend to embark on their entrepreneurial adventures later than men, because they are driven by the need to prove themselves in the job market before becoming their own bosses.

In France, 44% of working women wait until they have acquired more than 10 years’ professional experience before setting up their own business, according to a study carried out by the Roland Berger agency. In comparison, only a quarter of men wait that long.

To make the world of entrepreneurship more balanced, it’s important for women to be surrounded by mentors who help them to take responsibility for themselves and overcome their own limiting beliefs.

“To increase the likelihood of female entrepreneurship success, gender matching with women entrepreneurs is a promising strategy,” study co-author Pradeep Chintagunta concluded.