as the top manager, compared to the average of 15 percent in Sub-Saharan Africa. Female participation in firm ownership in Sudan is 8 percent, which is substantially lower than the Sub-Saharan Africa average of 36 percent. Access to finance is cited as the biggest obstacle to firm growth for 10 percent of femaleled firms compared to 6 percent of male-led firms.<sup>22</sup> A study of 142 female business owners in Sudan, who represent a diversity of geographic locations, industries, and sizes, confirms that one of the greater obstacles to starting or expanding their businesses was their inability to rely on banks for credit (Musa 2012). Many of the businesswomen were asked to provide guarantees in the form of real estate or other assets which they did not have, and the cost of loans was often greater than 10 percent of the amount loaned. As mentioned earlier, having a land title might help one access credit from a bank, as the land title could serve as collateral, but women face difficulties obtaining land titles. Some of the businesswomen also reported that the banks were reluctant to lend to those with whom they did not have personal connections, or _wasta_ , which was discussed in the preceding sections of this report. Consequently, 66 percent of the businesswomen used their own savings to start their businesses and 17 percent borrowed from family or friends, while only 17 percent sought financing from a bank. Similarly, 63 percent used their own savings or earnings for working capital, and only 37 percent sought financing from a bank for such purposes. It is noteworthy that the businesses these women started were impressive on multiple fronts, not least of which was the fact that 84 percent reported positive net profit margins (Musa 2012).

Access to finance is not the only hurdle that women encounter when starting and growing a business. Campos et al. (2019) identify a number of constraints that female entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa face in the realm of endowments as well as at the household level. These include differences in skills, capital, networks, occupational opportunities, and safety. These underlying constraints shape women’s strategic decisions, resulting in them being more likely than men to end up with smaller firms in lower productivity sectors. Regulatory constraints are among some of the more prominent contextual-level hurdles that women face. For example, the 2020 Doing Business assessment shows that additional steps are often required for women to start a business compared to men and that it takes on average 35 days for a woman to start a business compared to 34 days for men. This is considerably longer than the 22-day average for the Sub-Saharan Africa region (World Bank 2020c). The previously referenced study highlights the personal characteristics of the businesswomen that appear to have helped them succeed as well as some of the structural factors that, according to them, have inhibited them from achieving greater success in starting and managing their businesses. In general, the women were younger when they started their businesses (50 percent were between the ages of 36 and 45), 62 percent came from families who had experience of owning and managing businesses, the women were highly educated (62 percent had a university or a post-graduate degree), and 67 percent had professional experience in the formal sector (Musa 2012). Also of interest is the fact that, in contrast to a number of the larger businesses in Sudan

> 22 (World Bank 2014b) It is noteworthy that while women identified access to finance as a major obstacle, more female-led firms had a bank loan/line of credit than male-led firms (13 and 4 percent, respectively). Other differences in the characteristics of firms with a woman versus a man as the top manager include female-led firms outperforming male-led firms on having an internationally recognized quality certification (17 and 7 percent, respectively) and on having an annual financial statement reviewed by external auditors (77 and 55 percent, respectively).

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