Profile of Women Entrepreneurship in Algeria

Algerian society is undergoing social, economic and cultural changes, that led to the improvement of women’s conditions and their opening on work. At the university, young women are getting to fields of studies, used to be a monopoly for men, such as mechanical engineering, agronomy, civil engineering... In spite of the environmental socio-cultural constraints and as result of unemployment crisis, young women choose the entrepreneurial jobs. Women’s entrepreneurship is a new phenomenon in Algerian society and need to be more highlighted. Within this perspective, a study was carried out and visits to 30 enterprises led by women, and interviews were carried out with them. That helped to shed light on the characteristics of women entrepreneurs in Algeria, as well as activities and profile of their enterprises. It was concluded that most women entrepreneurs are young, with university degrees. They are constraint to start their own businesses as self employed or set up micro enterprises, employing between 1 and 5 employees, mainly from their families and working informally.