The survey, conducted by the China Association of Women Entrepreneurs and the Micro-Economy Research Institute under the State Development Planning Commission, indicates that about 90 percent of the women-run enterprises are in manufacturing and service industries.

Experts attributed the success of such enterprises to Chinese women’s general dispositions of diligence, tenacity and perseverance.

However, at the Women Entrepreneurs Forum held earlier this month in Beijing, experts and women managers still called for more support, both technological and psychological, for women entrepreneurs.

“Self-confidence should be the prerequisite for women entrepreneurs, and a favorable social environment is in need,” Chen Lanyan, an official from the Women Development Fund, was quoted by Sunday’s China Daily as saying.

Management skills, support from governments, families and friends, sound public relations and more opportunities are all elements for women’s success in business, the newspaper reports.

“We need more training opportunities and multiple information channels to further develop our companies,” Zhang Yan from the Beijing Jinlujin Technology Development Center was cited as saying.

To overcome the obstacles hindering the development of women-led enterprises, a research and consulting center for women entrepreneurs has already been set up in Beijing.

(People’s Daily 12/17/2000)