The majority of Bangladeshi female entrepreneurs are significantly reliant on their support workers, which frequently results in poor decision-making even after the usage of technology in producing, taking orders, and delivering products and services.

Enduring several obstacles such as patriarchal society, lack of family support, inadequate financial backing from the government and banks, natural catastrophes, poor security, etc., female entrepreneurs have had exceptional development in recent years by adopting business-supportive innovations such as web portals and e-commerce sites.

However, if they had been more adept at utilizing technology, the rise may have been more substantial. On a global scale, women are often criticized for their inability to adapt and utilize technology. This tendency is especially evident in Bangladesh, where many women are uninformed about and unprepared for modern technology (EmTech).

Promoting female entrepreneurs’ digital leadership can serve as a catalyst for their long-term business potential in the country’s dynamic and ever-expanding business environment.

Lockdowns brought on by the epidemic and social isolation problems have forced traditional brick and mortar enterprises to transform into online or social media-based operations. As a result, the use of online order systems, tracking systems, and inventory systems has increased dramatically. It seems from the observation that female entrepreneurs in western nations have adapted and utilized the available technology in running their business activities with ease. Similar trends may be seen in Southeast Asia and other regions of the world.

“Over 252 million women have been beginning enterprises,” according to the GEM Women’s Entrepreneurship Report 2020-21, which examined women’s entrepreneurship in 43 countries. The majority of them have utilized technology and social media sites.

Accordingly, female entrepreneurs in Bangladesh are also adapting to the use of  technology to create goods, take orders, and provide services. However, the majority of them rely largely on their support workers, or technicians, who frequently mislead them while conducting business activities through the use of technology.In many instances, this dependence results in bad decision-making (particularly when those judgments are information-driven), which eventually lowers firm profitability as well as reputation among the client base.

In addition, a lot of female entrepreneurs lack computer or smartphone literacy. Moreover, a large number of Bangladeshi women entrepreneurs are not competent enough in using fundamental computer applications like Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Photoshop, etc. As a result, their enterprises miss out on the advantages of various software and technological advancements that may save them time and free them up to focus on their family. Furthermore, most female entrepreneurs are not well-versed in the fundamental methods for utilizing social networking sites, web portals, and simple website-related activities. They lose their business pages, in particular, as a result of not understanding the altered working procedures of social media, notably Facebook, Instagram, and others, leading to serious trouble and consumer discontent.

Also, they are unaware of the laws, rules, and regulations that apply to online businesses which creates another layer of complexity to their struggle to thrive in the competitive market! Instead of relying on tech experts and other individuals, female entrepreneurs should learn and be in charge of these techy tools and procedures.
As a result, they could be able to take market share from Bangladesh’s fastest-growing E-commerce industry, which e-CAB projects would be worth $3 billion by 2023.

In the aforementioned scenarios, promoting female entrepreneurs’ digital leadership can serve as a catalyst for their long-term business potential in the country’s dynamic and ever-expanding business environment. As a result, female entrepreneurs with a strong understanding of digital platforms and technology stand a greater chance of success. The government, NGOs, and universities may take the lead in helping to advance the leadership, expertise, and skills of female entrepreneurs in the digital space.

The government should set up free widespread training programs for female entrepreneurs that emphasizes on the use of technology in running both online and offline enterprises. This would be a fundamental investment to create capable female business owners who would run their organizations and flourish with great profit margins!
Basic information and communication technology (ICT) classes should be required at both public and private colleges, where students will learn how to use online portals, order and payment systems, social media platforms, and other platforms. Also, many grads do not even know how to compose and send an email; therefore it is vital to measure what needs execution. When embracing technology, female graduates are more vulnerable than their male counterparts.

The development of female graduates’ online-based entrepreneurial attitudes and the development of their digital leadership abilities can thus be significantly improved by these initiatives within the universities. Additionally, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) should regularly offer free training to their female clientele who will be able to use technology for their commercial activities on websites, social media platforms, and online security concerns. Consequently, with the provision of the missing catalyst, the digital leadership of female entrepreneurs may then be fostered to help them lead in their respective business fields.