Entrepreneurship and Cultural practice: The Challenge for Turkish Cypriot Female Entrepreneurs

The choices that the nascent entrepreneur makes in selecting an industry sector and ultimately an enterprise may be heavily influenced by the cultural and social norms of the environment surrounding the entrepreneur. The phenomena of Male/Female segregation has long persisted in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and it is an important topic from many perspectives as it may affect the economic life of the community, and yet it has not received much attention in the existing body of literature. An understanding of the specific problems experienced by female entrepreneurs in the context of a patriarchal society and what female entrepreneurs do to counteract these problems could be applied to many developing nations where gender equality has not been achieved. What follows is a small scale literature review covering the cultural influences on entrepreneurial behaviour and their contribution to business success or otherwise in Northern Cyprus.