There’s Something Awesome About Hong Kong’s Female Entrepreneurs Compared to the West’s

December 9, 2015

Female entrepreneurs in Hong Kong are wealthier than their male counterparts, according to new data.

HSBC Private Bank conducted an online survey of over 2,800 respondents from 10 different countries who had earned more than $1 million from past or present businesses. The average female entrepreneur in Hong Kong was found to have an average net worth of $3.7 million and their male counterparts an average net worth of $3.3 million, reports the South China Morning Post.

Women were found to make up 67 percent of Hong Kong entrepreneurs worth at least $15 million, as compared to 33 percent in Western countries.

The survey’s findings also showed that 48% of local business owners in Hong Kong are women — for comparison, only 29% of small-business owners in the the United States are women, according to an Institute of Women’s Policy Research report.

All of the Hong Kong-based respondents, both male and female, were found by HSBC to have a leg up on entrepreneurs in the West when it came to getting an early head start. The average age of Hong Kong respondents when they set up their first businesses was 27, while those in Western countries started at 34.

Business was also more of a family affair in Hong Kong than in Western countries: 53 percent of the Hong Kong Respondents came from families who owned a business as compared to 42% of respondents from the U.S. and Europe.

“Many of today’s young entrepreneurs come from families with their own businesses where they were encouraged to take an active role in the family business,” Bernard Rennell, Asia-Pacific regional head of HSBC, said of Hong Kong entrepreneurs.

The findings are set to be published in HSBC’s Essence of Enterprise report early next year.

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