ABSTRACT
“This has been an amazing experience,” observed Victoria Kisyombe, a brave entrepreneur who founded a leasing company in Tanzania to help other entrepreneurs gain access to the coolers and freezers, baking ovens, sewing machines, gravel-making machines, or tractors and trucks they needed to pursue their dreams. “It is a business that allows me to give to others, but has simultaneously contributed so much to my own personal development.” Victoria’s experience is both unique and commonplace throughout the developing world. Myriad women entrepreneurs have launched a business, some in response to a perceived opportunity, many out of necessity given a lack of viable employment alternatives. This book places the inspirational stories of women like Victoria in the wider context of how it feels and what it means to be an entrepreneur in developing countries and emerging economies, in which starting any kind of business can be a daunting challenge, especially for women.
