East-African women’s thoughts on stimulating the growth of their mid-scale enterprises

Background: Some of the obstacles to successful entrepreneurship in emerging economies are embedded in the internal operations and management of enterprises, especially women mid-scale enterprises. This includes the lack of effective strategies that promote the growth of women-owned mid-scale enterprises and their inclination towards necessity-based entrepreneurship, which greatly limits their growth potential. Aim: The study explored the experience and know-how of strategies applied by three high-profiled women-owned mid-scale enterprises in East Africa to stimulate their business growth. Methods: A qualitative research approach, using perspective seeking methods by applying unrestrictive semi-structured questioning was adopted. Results: Findings suggest that women must embrace, recognise and own their internal aspirations and ambition to grow their mid-scale enterprise. Conclusion: Women-owned mid-scale enterprises showed the need to map out their strategic growth plan and it must be built on a solid foundation to justify the need to grow for all stakeholders to buy into it.