Power of Social Media: Journey of Females Towards Entrepreneurship

Abstract

Treading on a business venture as an entrepreneur is a daunting task in a developing economy like Pakistan, especially if you do not belong to the globally dominant gender in the markets. Social media is encouraging people to try their luck with entrepreneurship as self-employed, be it a micro-entrepreneur or a partnership having limited investment. The study aims to explore the nature of home-based female-owned online businesses and to identify areas where the government can play a role in facilitating and encouraging online female entrepreneurs. The study employed a qualitative research design, in the locale of the capital, Islamabad. Structured interviews were conducted with 18 female entrepreneurs running home-based online businesses. Thematic analysis was used to reach the results. Social media is effectively playing its role in transforming the lives of females since Covid-19 hit the world. Such type of business requires the least level of education and investment, creating ease of doing business by providing a free-of-cost platform to become an entrepreneur without requiring to leave the house for the sake of business. Moreover, half of the sample resented the negative impact of government decisions on their business operations and identified the need for an online fraud filing portal and other facilitations.