What You Should Know About the Culture of Female Entrepreneurship in Latin America

The lack of formal employment, a family tradition, the desire to bring about change in the world. There are countless reasons that lead women to undertake ventures in the most diverse areas. In Latin America, economic, gender, and even infrastructure characteristics impact the way businesses are put into practice in the countries of the region.

Although it is a recently mapped category, female entrepreneurship is a tradition in LATAM, and the numbers show this strength, even in adverse scenarios. A Mastercard study, the 2021 Index of Women Entrepreneurs, points out that even though they were more affected by the pandemic (64% compared to 52% of men), women played a crucial role in creating new businesses and generating jobs.

More recently, the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor’s 2024/2025 revealed that the number of women entrepreneurs has grown worldwide. Brazil, for example, reached its highest entrepreneurship rate in the past four years (33.4%), driven by women and by people over 55 who decided to start their own businesses.

However, the report highlights that access to credit is still unequal between men and women, with women being discredited by companies regarding their entrepreneurial potential. So, what is concrete about female entrepreneurship in Latin America?

The Impact of Latin America’s Socioeconomic Characteristics

Entrepreneurship in LATAM emerges from a scenario in which, in 2021, the region recorded an extreme poverty rate of 32.3%, according to ECLAC’s Social Panorama, reaching 118 million women. There was a slight decrease in the rate compared to the previous year, but inequality and unemployment grew, with a large disparity between genders.

While the unemployment rate for Latin American men was 7.7%, for Latin American women it reached 11.3% in the same year. The following year, in 2022, the situation became even more concerning, with female unemployment projected at 11.6% according to the publication.

However, some data is more encouraging. Women between the ages of 25 and 54 have, on average, about one quarter more formal education than men in Latin America, which points to the possibility of developing creative businesses by women. Even when paired with heavier domestic work and being the heads of most households, entrepreneurship emerges as an option to improve quality of life and seek autonomy.

Brazil as a Standout in the Global Scenario

Brazil holds a prominent position among Latin American countries in advancing conditions for women to undertake ventures, followed by Chile and Colombia (Index of Women Entrepreneurs 2021).

In 2024, Brazil rose from eighth to sixth place in the ranking of countries with the highest Established Entrepreneur Rate, ahead of countries such as the United Kingdom, Italy, and the United States. And women played a fundamental role in this climb.

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor – GEM 2023/2024 showed that women represented 54.6% of potential entrepreneurs in Brazil, surpassing men, who accounted for 55% in the previous year.

Financial support and growth opportunities, however, are still extremely lacking. A Sebrae report points out that the main challenges faced by women entrepreneurs are the lack of support from partners, the influence of motherhood, work overload, domestic tasks, among other issues.

From Gap to Boom: Women-Led Technology Businesses

In the field of technology businesses and startups, female leadership is still a challenge in the region, but things are changing. Historically, these innovative companies founded by women have received only a small share of total venture capital investment.

In Brazil, for example, the problem predates the very creation of companies. According to the “Female Founders Report 2021,” prepared by the innovation company Distrito in partnership with Endeavor and B2Mamy, only 4.7% of startups were founded by women, compared to more than 90% by men.

However, in 2022, for the first time, one-third of the investments made in Latin America went to startups led by women, or with at least one on the board. Thus, the volume invested in these companies rose from 16% to 31%, according to the LAVCA VC & Tech Mid-Year Trends in Latin America study.

And this is already reflected in a more positive scenario for women-led companies. The female activity rate in startups increased from 6.1% to 10.4%, on average, in GEM 2023/2024 participating countries, which include Brazil, Venezuela, Chile, and other Latin American nations. In addition, according to the report, women represent the majority of startups bringing innovations to the market in Colombia and Venezuela.

Conclusion

Entrepreneurship is a vibrant culture among Latin American women that coexists with and is impacted by various socioeconomic challenges in the region. Brazil has been consolidating itself as a positive example in investing in women entrepreneurs across multiple fields, aligning itself with a broader scenario of seeking to close investment gaps in startups and technology companies led by women in the region.