How women are redefining the rules of business success : descriptive analysis of success drivers in Finland's female-led businesses
Luna Sanchez, Chaska Valeria (2025)
Kandidaatintyö
2025
School of Engineering Science, Tuotantotalous
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2025091596118
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2025091596118
Tiivistelmä
Women remain underrepresented in entrepreneurship worldwide, with only one in three businesses owned by women. In Finland, women launch 33% of all ventures despite facing structural disadvantages such as smaller networks, lower access to funding, and underrepresentation in entrepreneurial ecosystems. While existing research largely focuses on barriers, fewer studies examine the factors that enable female entrepreneurs to succeed.
This thesis studies the success drivers of revenue-generating female-led businesses in Finland. A quantitative, cross-sectional survey (n=31) was conducted, targeting female founders and leaders across industries. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and regression models in STATA to explore the relationships between internal factors, social capital, strategic choices, and funding access with business success indicators such as revenue, longevity, and team size.
Findings highlight motivation as the most consistently rated high-impact internal factors, with peer and entrepreneurial networks valued more highly than formal support structures such as mentorship programs or university networks. Leadership styles such as coaching and pacesetting were associated with relatively larger teams, while sector-specific innovation strategies – particularly customer experience and branding – emerged as common growth enablers. Although funding was perceived as an important enabler, 55% respondents bootstrapped their ventures, and only 32% had secured external funding.
These results suggest that female entrepreneurs in Finland rely heavily on internal drive, peer networks, and adaptive strategies to navigate systemc barriers. These insights underscore the need for ecosystem actors and policymakers to strengthen gender-representative networks, address funding biases, and design support programs that align with the realities of female-led business growth.
This thesis studies the success drivers of revenue-generating female-led businesses in Finland. A quantitative, cross-sectional survey (n=31) was conducted, targeting female founders and leaders across industries. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and regression models in STATA to explore the relationships between internal factors, social capital, strategic choices, and funding access with business success indicators such as revenue, longevity, and team size.
Findings highlight motivation as the most consistently rated high-impact internal factors, with peer and entrepreneurial networks valued more highly than formal support structures such as mentorship programs or university networks. Leadership styles such as coaching and pacesetting were associated with relatively larger teams, while sector-specific innovation strategies – particularly customer experience and branding – emerged as common growth enablers. Although funding was perceived as an important enabler, 55% respondents bootstrapped their ventures, and only 32% had secured external funding.
These results suggest that female entrepreneurs in Finland rely heavily on internal drive, peer networks, and adaptive strategies to navigate systemc barriers. These insights underscore the need for ecosystem actors and policymakers to strengthen gender-representative networks, address funding biases, and design support programs that align with the realities of female-led business growth.