Women entrepreneurship in the modern global economy has become a great driver of economic dynamism, innovative and social change. In developed and developing countries, women-owned enterprises play an important role in creating jobs, reducing poverty, and developing the community [1]. Therefore, it is not only a question of gender equity, but a strategic need to empower women-owned businesses to ensure inclusive and sustainable development objectives [2]. Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are at the center of this economic scenario and these are the pillars of most economies. SMEs make up around 90 percent of the total number of businesses across the world and generate over 50 percent of all jobs [3].

The strategic significance of SME sector is especially strong with regard to Bangladesh. SMEs are a priority area of national development policy, and they are considered to be one of the main mechanisms through which the country could be transformed into a middle-income country [4]. SME is the engine of the Bangladeshi economy, it accounts for about 25 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the country and it is the source of about 80 percent of the industrial workforce [4,5]. Government of Bangladesh through organizations such as Bangladesh Bank and SME Foundation have also established several policies and programs that promote growth and sustainability of SMEs [4].

Although the SME sector is a vital part of the Bangladesh economy and the government has implemented supportive policies for the sector, women remain heavily underrepresented among Bangladesh's business owners. This gap highlights a significant untapped economic potential due to gender disparities. The challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in Bangladesh are complex and intertwined, creating substantial barriers to establishing, maintaining, and growing businesses. These obstacles are not solely economic; they are deeply embedded within the nation’s socio-cultural fabric and perpetuate systematic inequalities that are difficult to address through policy alone [2]. This situation reflects a policy effectiveness leak, where formal support mechanisms, including the SME Policy 2019, appear weakened or hindered by stronger institutional forces [6]. The gap between policy objectives and the low number of women entrepreneurs suggests that resources and support systems do not effectively reach beneficiaries, or they are diminished by the persistence of social norms and institutional prejudices. The issue is not the absence of policy per se, but rather the challenge of policy implementation within an ecosystem constrained by socio-cultural factors. While earlier studies have identified these barriers, they often lack insight into how entrepreneurs perceive them or what priorities they assign to these obstacles. A critical knowledge gap is the absence of systematic, quantitative studies that explore the perceptions of women entrepreneurs themselves. Most existing research has qualitatively identified barriers, but few have measured their relative importance from the entrepreneur’s perspective through large samples. Additionally, there is a scarcity of studies that compare external restrictive factors with internal factors such as entrepreneurial agency and innovative capacity. This study, therefore, is a descriptive investigation that aims to shed more light on this crucial interplay.

The proposed study will seek to undertake a descriptive research on the perceptions of women SME owners on the effectiveness of training, the main barriers that they face, as well as their own perceived capabilities to identify opportunity.

In order to support this objective, it is proposed that the research will be guided by the following research questions:

What is the perception of women entrepreneurs within the Bangladeshi SMEs about the process and effectiveness of entrepreneurship training programs in business growth and survival?

• Which are the biggest financial, institutional, and socio-cultural obstacles that these entrepreneurs feel about in their endeavors to succeed in business?
• What is the perception of these entrepreneurs regarding their abilities to detect and utilize new business opportunities in the market?

This research contributes a lot to the available literature. Firstly, it presents a solid empirical evidence using a large sample population of 286 women entrepreneurs, and goes beyond the anecdotal narrations to present a measured view of the life experience of women entrepreneurs. Second, it provides important insights into the subjective realities which define entrepreneurial motivation, decision-making, and resilience based on perceptions. Third, the results directly relate to the practical use by the policymakers, financial institutions, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as they will be able to develop more focused, effective, and gender-sensitive support initiatives that consider the needs of the women entrepreneurs and inherent strengths they could have.

Joseph Schumpeter theoretical work provides a background on the perspective of the entrepreneurship role. The entrepreneur was considered by Schumpeter [7] to be the primary driving force of economic development whose primary role was to introduce new combinations. This innovation is a disruptive shift of the economy in its state of a circular flow and drives what is now often known as the creative destruction phenomenon: old industries and business models are continually being overtaken by new ones [8]. To Schumpeter, innovation is a general term, and it does not just entail the invention of technology but also the launching of a new product, a new mode of production, the market opening, a new supply source conquest, or a new organisational structure [9] This model is especially applicable to the interpretation of the findings of this study in terms of opportunity recognition since it shows that the women entrepreneurs surveyed are not merely passive managers but could be operating as dynamic Schumpeterian agents who see unmet needs and fill them, thereby bringing change to the economy internally. Although the theory of entrepreneurship (innovation) proposed by Schumpeter explains the what, the Social Cognitive Theory (SCT) by Albert Bandura offers an explanatory approach to the how, which is the mechanisms of developing and sustaining entrepreneurial skills and beliefs. SCT suggests the triadic reciprocal causation model, in which individual factors (e.g., beliefs, cognitions), environmental factors (e.g., social context, institutional rules) and behaviour are continuously interacting and influencing each other [10]. The two concepts of SCT are key in the present study: One of the major concepts of SCT is self-efficacy which is the belief one has in performing the required steps to attain certain objectives [11]. When it comes to entrepreneurship, it is referred to as Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy (ESE), which refers to conviction of an individual to competently execute the roles and duties of an entrepreneur [12]. ESE is a major predictive of entrepreneurial intentions as well as resilience in the face of adversity [13]. The notion provides an important psychological insight into the elevated levels of self-perceived competence that were found in this research. According to Bandura [11], a significant part of human learning occurs vicariously via the observation of other people (models) and the consequences of their behaviour. This highlights the importance of role models and professional networks in a learning environment in the case of an entrepreneurial setting. The absence of this type of networks, which is a typical scenario among the female population in patriarchal cultures, can impair considerably the opportunity of gaining entrepreneurial knowledge and norms [14]. The concept aids in justifying the possible conceivable value of training programmes which could be platforms of necessary observational learning. In Bangladesh, female entrepreneurs also work in a very strong patriarchal social system that is rather problematic [15]. Gender roles mean that women are usually restricted to the domestic realm, and an entrepreneurial activity is one that defies the set social expectations [16]. This leads to a number of barriers in particular, family and community resistance, where potential entrepreneurs receive a lack of support and social disapproval [16] high work-family conflict, where females receive disproportionately more household and childcare duties [14] and limitations on movement and safety, which isolate them in reaching markets, meeting suppliers, and forming networks [17]. In addition to the social norms, women entrepreneurs are forced to deal with an exclusionary formal institutional setting. The unavailability of finance is repeatedly mentioned as one of the most debilitating limitations to the women-owned enterprises in Bangladesh and the South Asian region in general [18]. It is a multi-skilled problem that is based on a number of factors. The fixed assets are usually taken as collateral by financial institutions, but women usually do not have any property or land to sell since discrimination in inheritance is a common practice [18]. More so, women complain of institution bias by the bank officials who do not listen to them or need a male family member present [15]. Although MFIs have given initial capital to millions of women. Nevertheless, the amount of the small loans is not always enough to promote the growth of the SMEs, and the tight timelines when repaying the loans may lead to additional pressure [19]. Although the government has policies and special credit schemes that enable women to start their own businesses, there is still a gap in the implementation process, and many entrepreneurs are either not aware of them or fail to take advantage of them because of bureaucratic processes [20]. Entrepreneur training has become one of the most popular interventions aimed at enabling female entrepreneurs to succeed in business through providing them with skills [21]. Nevertheless, the research on the efficiency of such programs has a complex image. Megabusiness studies have often concluded that although standard business training can have some benefits in terms of business operations (e.g., record-keeping), its effects on more fundamental performance indicators such as profits and sales are often relatively small or statistically non-significant, especially to women [22]. It has been indicated that training is much more efficient when it is combined with other measures, including the access to financing, mentoring, or post-training support (International Labour Organisation, 2015). Furthermore, recent studies also suggest that training aimed at the formation of an entrepreneurial mindset and soft skills (personal initiative, resilience, and goal-setting) can bring major improvements to the performance of the firm in comparison to traditional skills training [23].

In this paper, the research is situated within a positivist research paradigm, which assumes the objectivity of social reality and the possibility of observing and measuring it [24]. Consistent with this paradigm, the study further employed a quantitative cross-sectional survey design. This approach aligns with the exploratory and descriptive aims of the study, as it allows for the collection of data from a large sample in a standardized manner at a single point in time, providing a comprehensive view of perceptions regarding the current situation [25]. Descriptive statistics served as the primary analytical tools since the aim was to identify existing trends rather than to test causal relationships.

This investigation concentrated on female entrepreneurs who possess and manage officially registered Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) within the geographical boundaries of Bangladesh. Given the impracticality of constructing a comprehensive and accessible sampling framework encompassing all such entrepreneurs, a non-probability sampling method was employed. In particular, convenience sampling was selected due to logistical and accessibility limitations, thereby enabling researchers to gather data from participants who were readily available [26]. A total of 286 legitimate responses were obtained. In order to augment the heterogeneity of the sample, participants were chosen from a variety of sectors (including garments, food and beverage, agriculture, and retail) and from both urban and semi-urban locales to ensure representation of regional diversity.

Data collection was conducted using a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire has been carefully designed to operationalize the key variables of interest and was further divided into four main sections:

Demographic and firmographic data: In this section, the age, educational background, and years of experience of the entrepreneur, the industry and number of employees of the firm were gathered.

Perception towards Entrepreneurship Training: The items in this category evaluated the perceived usefulness and efficacy of the different training programs on business development and skills development (Wu, 2024).

Perceptions of barriers: The question in this section entailed questions that measured how much the entrepreneurial respondents felt that particular factors (e.g., gender bias, access to finance, market competition, etc.) were an impediment to the success of their business (Wu, 2024).

Opportunity recognition perceptions: This part included items assessing the self-perceived capacity of the entrepreneurs to recognize and take market opportunities [27].

The three perceptual sections were presented on a 5-point Likert scale, which is a well-established and valid tool of measuring latent attitudes and opinions [28]. The scale was between 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 5 (Strongly Agree). To make sure that the questionnaire was understandable and face valid, a sample of 20 entrepreneurs was pre-tested.

The descriptive statistics were used to code and analyze the quantitative data obtained by the use of the 286 questionnaires that were completed. The major software that was used in this analysis is the Statistical Package of the Social Sciences (SPSS). This is typical of a quantitative descriptive study, which allows systematic summarizing and organization of the data in order to show patterns [25]. Frequency and percentage distributions of all the demographic and firmographic variables were calculated to create a complete sample profile. In the case of the perceptual items, the measurements of central tendency (mean, M) and dispersion (as standard deviation, SD) were calculated. The standard deviation will yield one number that represents the average of the level of agreement, whereas the mean score will yield one number, which will represent the level of consensus or variation of responses. These average scores then ranked the attributes in the three perceptual constructs, therefore determining the best valued parts of training, the most perceived barriers and the best perceived capabilities on self-perceived capability in identifying opportunities.

Ethical issues were observed to the letter during the research process. Each of the participants was informed of the purpose of the study, the voluntary character of their participation, and the measures of guaranteeing the confidentiality. Each respondent was informed and gave an informed consent before the questionnaire was administered. This was done to preserve the anonymity of both the participants and their business, and all the findings are given in aggregate form.

Demographic Analysis

The perception data was collected by developing a demographic/firmographic profile of the sample. The sample consists of proven, highly educated businesspeople, as summarised in Table 1. The largest proportion (83.6%) falls within the prime working ages of 26 to 50 years. The business owners are very experienced, with 57 percent having 6-10 years of experience. The educational level of the sample population is quite high, with 61.2 percent holding a Bachelor’s degree or higher. This cannot be attributed to stereotypical views that women in developing economies are entrepreneurs. Most enterprises are small-scale, as 77 percent have fewer than 50 employees. As with the broader Bangladeshi economy, the garments sector is the most dominant, comprising 53.8 percent of the companies. The profile indicates that the research outcomes are based on the perspectives of a well-educated, mature, and experienced group of women managing formal SMEs.

Table 1: Demographic and Firmographic Characteristics of the Sample.

Source: Authors’ own work

Perceptions of Training Efficacy

The initial research question was to learn the perception of the women entrepreneur on the role and effectiveness of training programs. Table 2 displays the findings according to which the valuation of training is overwhelmingly positive. Training programs make me grow and maintain my business is the statement which had the greatest number of agreements and its mean score (M=4.17). An impressive 85 percent of the interviewees agreed or strongly agreed with this feeling, and it is possible to conclude that a direct correlation is perceived to exist between training and real business results. In the same note, there was high degree of consensus that their businesses have been helped by the formal training in entrepreneurship (M=4.08) and that the government-led or NGO-led programs have helped them to improve their entrepreneurial capabilities (M=4.00). These results strongly suggest that the entrepreneurs surveyed have a very high regard of the different entrepreneurial training and believe in its effectiveness.

Table 2: Descriptive Statistics on the Perceived Value of Training Programs.

Source: Authors’ own work

Perceived Barriers

The second research question was set to determine the greatest obstacles as understood by the entrepreneurs. According to the findings in Table 3, the findings give a critical analysis of the challenges they encounter. The most vivid finding is the preference of socio-cultural factors. The most important barrier to my business success was rated as the item "Gender bias is a barrier to my business success" and it had the highest mean score M=3.93. Large majority (66.8 percent) of the entrepreneurs affirmed or concurred with this statement. This was closely followed by two barriers that were related to the economy and the market: "Market competition makes it hard to sustain my business" (M=3.88) and I face difficulties in accessing finance or credit (M=3.86). The reported barriers of access to financial resources are generally seen as significant (more than 70 percent of the respondents agreed that this is a significant barrier). This issue of absence of business networks was also found to be a major hindrance (M=3.58). The last ranked were government regulations or bureaucracy where the high percentage (49.3 percent) comprising of the respondents were neutral on this issue expressing that it is not considered a pressing issue as compared to the other challenges.

Table 3: Descriptive Statistics on Perceived Barriers.

Source: Authors’ Work

Opportunity Recognition

The research question finally evaluated the perception of the entrepreneurs on their ability to recognize and pursue business opportunities. According to Table 4, the results indicate that there was an extremely high degree of self-perceived capability and business entrepreneurship. All the five attributes associated with opportunity recognition have very high mean scores that range between M=3.91 to M=4.29. The highest-ranking item was I recognize unmet customer needs with an outstanding mean of M=4.29 and a very low standard deviation (SD=0.539) which means that there was a high level of agreement. A massively large percentage of 95.8 percent of those who responded to this statement agreed or strongly agreed with the statement. This was then combined with a high perceived capability to identify trends that can help their business to thrive (M=4.21) and actively seek ideas of expanding their business (M=4.20). This data gets a clear picture of businessmen, who consider themselves to be very competent, active, and creative players in the markets.

Table 4: Descriptive Statistics on Per.

Source: Authors’ Work

Demographic Analysis

The perception data was collected by developing a demographic/firmographic profile of the sample. The sample consists of proven, highly educated businesspeople, as summarised in Table 1. The largest proportion (83.6%) falls within the prime working ages of 26 to 50 years. The business owners are very experienced, with 57 percent having 6-10 years of experience. The educational level of the sample population is quite high, with 61.2 percent holding a Bachelor’s degree or higher. This cannot be attributed to stereotypical views that women in developing economies are entrepreneurs. Most enterprises are small-scale, as 77 percent have fewer than 50 employees. As with the broader Bangladeshi economy, the garments sector is the most dominant, comprising 53.8 percent of the companies. The profile indicates that the research outcomes are based on the perspectives of a well-educated, mature, and experienced group of women managing formal SMEs.

Table 1: Demographic and Firmographic Characteristics of the Sample.

Source: Authors’ own work

Perceptions of Training Efficacy

The initial research question was to learn the perception of the women entrepreneur on the role and effectiveness of training programs. Table 2 displays the findings according to which the valuation of training is overwhelmingly positive. Training programs make me grow and maintain my business is the statement which had the greatest number of agreements and its mean score (M=4.17). An impressive 85 percent of the interviewees agreed or strongly agreed with this feeling, and it is possible to conclude that a direct correlation is perceived to exist between training and real business results. In the same note, there was high degree of consensus that their businesses have been helped by the formal training in entrepreneurship (M=4.08) and that the government-led or NGO-led programs have helped them to improve their entrepreneurial capabilities (M=4.00). These results strongly suggest that the entrepreneurs surveyed have a very high regard of the different entrepreneurial training and believe in its effectiveness.

Table 2: Descriptive Statistics on the Perceived Value of Training Programs.

Source: Authors’ own work

Perceived Barriers

The second research question was set to determine the greatest obstacles as understood by the entrepreneurs. According to the findings in Table 3, the findings give a critical analysis of the challenges they encounter. The most vivid finding is the preference of socio-cultural factors. The most important barrier to my business success was rated as the item "Gender bias is a barrier to my business success" and it had the highest mean score M=3.93. Large majority (66.8 percent) of the entrepreneurs affirmed or concurred with this statement. This was closely followed by two barriers that were related to the economy and the market: "Market competition makes it hard to sustain my business" (M=3.88) and I face difficulties in accessing finance or credit (M=3.86). The reported barriers of access to financial resources are generally seen as significant (more than 70 percent of the respondents agreed that this is a significant barrier). This issue of absence of business networks was also found to be a major hindrance (M=3.58). The last ranked were government regulations or bureaucracy where the high percentage (49.3 percent) comprising of the respondents were neutral on this issue expressing that it is not considered a pressing issue as compared to the other challenges.

Table 3: Descriptive Statistics on Perceived Barriers.

Source: Authors’ Work

Opportunity Recognition

The research question finally evaluated the perception of the entrepreneurs on their ability to recognize and pursue business opportunities. According to Table 4, the results indicate that there was an extremely high degree of self-perceived capability and business entrepreneurship. All the five attributes associated with opportunity recognition have very high mean scores that range between M=3.91 to M=4.29. The highest-ranking item was I recognize unmet customer needs with an outstanding mean of M=4.29 and a very low standard deviation (SD=0.539) which means that there was a high level of agreement. A massively large percentage of 95.8 percent of those who responded to this statement agreed or strongly agreed with the statement. This was then combined with a high perceived capability to identify trends that can help their business to thrive (M=4.21) and actively seek ideas of expanding their business (M=4.20). This data gets a clear picture of businessmen, who consider themselves to be very competent, active, and creative players in the markets.

Table 4: Descriptive Statistics on Per.

Source: Authors’ Work

The results of this research are a multi-dimensional and detailed image of the entrepreneurship of women in the sphere of Bangladeshi SME. This discussion explains such descriptive findings as syntheses between the reviewed theoretical frameworks and the literature. The discussion shows a general storyline, the businessmen in our research consider themselves to be strong entrepreneurs possessing high agency, and existing within a system with heavy, gendered constraints.

The strongest result is the extremely high degree of self-perceived ability in the opportunity recognition. Table 4 displays a high level of agreement, which is in line with statements that describe the identification of unmet needs (M = 4.29) and the detection of trends in the market (M = 4. 21), and these values are in full accordance with the Schumpeterian (1934) vision of the entrepreneur, as a person of innovative action and creative destruction. This is an extremely potent counter-narrative to the depictions in which women entrepreneurs in the developing worlds are most often viewed as driven by necessity. The good scores reflect an opportunity-seeking and proactive attitude. According to the Social Cognitive Theory [11], this portrays a very high degree of Entrepreneurial Self-Efficacy (ESE) - a strong feeling about being able to do such entrepreneurial activities successfully [12].

Such a high ESE, compared to the large barriers found in Table 3, leads to a "Resilience-Constraint Paradox. Rationally, this self-efficacy might not be simply an inborn analytical feature but a developed strength, a psychological asset, developed as a consequence to overcome the hostile environment in entrepreneurship. This results in a more detailed analysis of the sample as such. The omnipresent gender discrimination, which is part of the systemic obstacles, is probably a potent filter that discourages a number of would-be entrepreneurs. The reason why some of them might be able to access the SME sector and be able to stay long enough to make it into this sample of proven businesswomen may be that they already have an unusually high amount of resilience, confidence, and innovative impetus. In that regard, the observed high ESE may be as a result of some form of a survivor bias. The research is possibly capturing the impressions of the exceptional few that have managed to survive the first and perhaps the most difficult steps in the entrepreneurship process. It means that the unrealized capabilities of the larger female population are even higher, as numerous women could have viable business ideas but more stereotypical self-confidence could be weeded out by the ecosystem before they could even start.

Another interesting paradox is the excessively positive assessment of training that was made by the entrepreneurs (Table 2), which can be compared and contrasted with the rest of the body of evaluation, which frequently argues that the immediate, quantifiable contribution of standalone business training with the profitability of a firm is inconclusive (McKenzie and Woodruff, 2014). Such a perceived lack of attachment is an indication that the value derived by the entrepreneurs in this sample is training that is over and above the immediate financial indicators of impact assessments.

The Social Cognitive Theory is a very persuasive explanation. Formal training and certification can be an essential source of symbolic capital in an ecosystem where the perceived barrier is identified to be gender bias. It is possible that a training certificate will serve as an indicator of competence and legitimacy to the suspicious stakeholders, including suppliers, customers, and loan officers. Moreover, since a lack of business networks is also a key perceived obstacle, even the training environment itself would be a precious and rare area of peer-to-peer networking, mentorship and watching effective example setters at work [11]. Such interactions are critical towards developing social capital [29] and strengthening ESE. Thus, the premium attributed to training is probably a logical judgment of the importance of training in giving the assurance, qualifications, and social capital needed to live in a biased world.

Table 3 gives a critical insight into ranking barriers and should reframe policy debates. The fact that gender bias (M=3.93) is thought of as a stronger impediment than access to finance (M=3.86) is a potent claim concerning the actual existence of these entrepreneurs. It implies that the issue of access to finance cannot be viewed as a technical issue but should be a symptom or a direct expression of the underlying, systematic problem of gender bias.

The interpretation is supported by the literature. As an example, women do not receive loans because they do not have collaterals in the form of fixed assets [15]. This collateral deficiency is not accidental but a direct result of discriminatory property and inheritance law and practice an overt manifestation of gender bias on the system. Likewise, the reports of favoritistic treatment on the part of the bank officials and the necessity to have a male co-signer are both direct performances of this prejudice in the institutional level. This reframing is essential as it suggests that perhaps creating more loan products that are offered to women might not be enough in cases where the systems of prejudice that lead to women failing to meet the requirements to obtain application loans, or even failing to be taken seriously, are not also tackled.

It is an exploratory paper that studied the perceptions of 286 women SME owners in Bangladesh on training, barriers and perceptions on opportunities. The results show that there is an interesting dynamic between the active strong innovators who work within the system of serious constraints. There are three major determinations. To begin with, the entrepreneurship has a very high level of self-efficacy in the identification of opportunities as evidenced by their high capacity of identifying the market trends and customer needs that are not being met. This is an essential innovation potential resource. Secondly, they view socio-cultural impediments as the key to their success and gender bias is a bigger challenge than rivalry in the market or availability of funds. This puts the first challenge in a new perspective as an economic problem instead of an institutional and social bias problem. Thirdly, these entrepreneurs are highly influenced by training as per the conflicting reports in the wider literature implying that the training programs offer critical contributions, including legitimacy, confidence, and social capital.

Implication on Theory and Practice

The findings point to the necessity of a mixed theoretical approach. Their entrepreneurial experiences cannot be considered independently as elaborated by human capital theory [30], social capital theory [29], and the institutional theory [31]. Rather, the results reveal the relationships between the following forces: institutionalised gender bias (institutional theory) is a hindrance to network access (social capital) and property ownership, which in turn lowers the returns on skill development (human capital).

To the practitioners, it means that the support interventions must be integrated to wok [32]. Based on these findings, training programmes have to be well-focused to promote social capital by means of organized networking services and mentorship programmes. They will also be required to strive to reform ESE by incorporating courses about soft skills, including personal initiative and resilience as well as the conventional business management courses.

Policy Implications

It must not also concentrate on finance-oriented solutions only. The eradication of institutional gender discrimination should be one of the main policy goals. This involves seeking the legal changes concerning the right to property and inheritance [33] and leading the way to fight against the discrimination of a particular set of people in financial and other governmental institutions. It is necessary to take an active approach. This is by ensuring that gender-sensitisation training is obligatory to loan officers and staff to mitigate institutional biases [34]. Besides, financial institutions are to create and increase alternative credit-scoring schemes and non-collateral-based lending products (e.g., cash-flow based lending) that would not be based on the usual collateral which women do not have. The interventions are to be structured as an overall programme. Training in business skills must be intermingled with active programs to build social capital by organizing formal networking functions and mentoring programmes. They should also be assisted in growth of their businesses, technology adoption and market penetration in various parts of the world, which will contribute to their high potential to innovate [35]. It should focus on transforming the ecosystem to make entrepreneur potential, instead of just securing their survival in a broken system.

Limitations of the Research and Future Research

There are various limitations of this research study. The cross-sectional design can only record what perceptions are at one point and cannot be applied to draw a causal relationship [25]. This is not a probabilistic method of convenience sampling, meaning that, despite the fact that the results might be informative, they cannot be statistically extrapolated to all women SME owners in Bangladesh. Finally, the use of self-reported information is prone to bias in response [36].

These limitations indicate major future research directions. They require longitudinal research of the perception change and business performance with time. The qualitative content of the study would be conducted more deeply to offer a better picture of the real mechanisms of how gender bias is applied in the everyday business communication. It would be worthwhile to compare the experiences of different gender entrepreneurs to determine gender-related obstacles. Finally, future studies ought to determine the efficacy of some policy interventions to lessen the obstacles found in the current research.

Acknowledgement

The author gratefully acknowledges the University of Rajshahi for its generous financial support and institutional assistance in completing this research project.

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