Kia ora koutou

Welcome to the third ACEW newsletter as we celebrate our second-year anniversary here at the Aotearoa Centre for Enterprising Women. For a new centre we have been extremely busy and achieved a lot so this newsletter aims to get you all up to speed, as well as let you know how you can engage with us moving forward.

In 2024 we welcomed three new PhD students – Jiahe Wu, Marcella Williams and Holly Franklin who have all started their PhD studies in the area of gender and entrepreneurship. We wanted to find out a bit more about them and their impressions of PhD life so far.

Read about our students here.

Girls Mean Business (GMB) our flagship outreach programme at ACEW, is an entrepreneurial leadership initiative aimed at Year 7 & 8 girls. The initiative aims to introduce the world of business and entrepreneurship in an engaging environment to empower the next generation of women in the workforce. The interactive workshop went global last month when our research associate, Dr Susan Nemec spent four weeks in Uganda, visiting ‘Project Moroto’ and working alongside founder Jayne Bailey.

We asked Susan for her insights and reflections of exporting and delivering GMB in such a unique, yet challenging environment. Her fascinating account can be read here.

This year in Aotearoa we are witnessing the highest business closure rates since 2015 with 282 companies entering liquidation, receivership or voluntary administration in March alone. High-profiled women-owned businesses such as Supy, Sunfed and Mina have all closed their doors. According to the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor 2023, family commitments, as well as the pandemic, posed bigger hurdles for women entrepreneurs than their male counterparts. In a survey carried out in 49 countries, 18 percent of female entrepreneurs who quit or exited a business did so for personal and family reasons, compared to just 12.6 percent of men.

Janine Swail conducted a recent study that delved deeper into the personal and family reasons that women entrepreneurs cited that led to their decision to exit their businesses, revealing a societal paradox that traps women entrepreneurs: forced voluntarism. She interviewed 16 women founders in the UK who exited their start-ups for personal reasons largely unrelated to financial or performance issues. These reasons typically involved balancing household and business demands and often included gendered responsibilities for child and eldercare.

Read more on The Conversation website. 

To read the full academic article, follow this open access link below:

Swail, J. and Marlow, S. (2024). ‘Involuntary exit for personal reasons’ – A gendered critique of the business exit decision. International Small Business Journal 42(8), pp. 966–983.

In July 2025 the Aotearoa Centre for Enterprising Women will host the Diana International Research Conference at the Business School. The conference will run from 1-4 July commencing with a Doctoral Colloquium Day (1st), followed by academic research conference (2nd and 3rd) and concluding with an Impact Day (4th), bringing together international academics and inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem builders from New Zealand.

Find out more by visiting the conference website.

Are you interested in reading more about our recently published research? Click on the open access links below to learn more.

• de Bruin, A. and Swail, J. (2024). ‘Advancing gender inclusivity: moving entrepreneurial ecosystems onto new paths.' International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship
• Swail, J. and Marlow, S. (2024). ‘Involuntary exit for personal reasons – A gendered critique of the business exit decision.' International Small Business Journal 42(8), pp. 966–983.
• Swail, J. and Marlow, S. (2024) ‘Having it all is a myth: family and personal commitments are pushing women out of their own businesses.' In The Conversation (August, 2024)

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