The entrepreneurial experience of SEA’s female founders

Southeast Asia’s potential – and success – as a startup ecosystem is well-documented. There’s no doubt that founders from the region are capable of building thriving businesses that can compete on the global stage.

However, even as Southeast Asia’s startup scene matures, it still has some work to do. For instance, there’s a stark gender imbalance among the founders of its rising startups. According to Tech in Asia data, only seven out of the region’s 80 top-funded startups have a woman in their founding teams, even though women make up 42% of the workforce and half of the population. 

Women founders have also reported challenges with accessing funding and markets as well as contending with long-standing biases about their capabilities and strengths. 

Nevertheless, it’s an exciting time to be a founder in Southeast Asia, especially for female founders, who are carving out new paths for themselves. 

As part of our 2022 International Women’s Day campaign, Tech in Asia decided to explore the experiences of the region’s female founders by conducting a qualitative survey.

To understand their lived experiences, we went beyond the numbers and gathered insights from the anecdotes they shared. We then analyzed their responses and sorted them thematically, identifying common themes that emerged from the stories of these founders.

We received nearly 60 responses for our survey and interviewed seven founders to gain a deeper perspective.

While this survey is not representative of all female founders in Southeast Asia, we hope it offers a snapshot of their journeys and gives a closer look into what it means to be a woman in the region’s tech and startup ecosystem. Starting up isn’t easy, but anything worth doing is well worth the effort.

Survey and interview responses have been edited for brevity and clarity.

 

Entrepreneurship is often described as being a rollercoaster  – with good reason. Regardless of race, gender, industry, or geography, founders will agree: There are plenty of highs and just as many lows. We asked our survey respondents what they thought were the best and hardest aspects of the startup founder life, and we captured a breadth of experiences. 

Five key themes emerged around the best part of being a founder: innovation, freedom, impact, inspiration, and passion.