Women's Meteoric Rise in the Asian Startup Landscape

By: Rachita Sharma, Managing Editor | Tuesday, 24 February 2026

Women entrepreneurship is booming across Asia. Women make up nearly 37 percent of the world's total entrepreneurs, yet they face significant barriers in the region.

Southeast Asian countries like Thailand and Malaysia have a higher rate of women entrepreneurs, close to 19-20%. others countries such as India have 13.76% representation of women in entrepreneurship.

Women founders in the region face significant challenges, the primary one being limited access to finance (only 1% of Indian women borrow from banks). Women also struggle as they largely rely on on self-funding.

Women also face challenges pertaining to an imbalance in care duties based on gender. Intense work-life balance conflicts make it 47% more likely for women to close businesses for personal reasons.

Although the challenges are many, yet enterprising women are taking up entrepreneurship at unprecedented rates today. From beauty to AI, retail to fintech, they are building innovative startups across industries.

In the current edition of WER magazine we meet women entrepreneurs from Asia and hear their thoughts on women’s rise in entrepreneurship, especially in Asia.

One of the featured leaders is Ranmali Wickramasinghe: Co-Founder of Butterfly Effect Training Partners. She is a transformative coach, corporate trainer, and educator from Colombo, Sri Lanka. With a strong foundation in business and education, she pioneers purpose-driven training and coaching programs, empowering individuals and organizations while championing gender equality and human capital development across diverse sectors.

Sharing her perspective, she says, “I see a strong and visible shift across Asia, with more women stepping into entrepreneurship, leadership, and governance, from small micro-enterprises to large multinational organizations.”

To know more about women’s rise in Asian startup landscape, read the current edition of WER magazine.

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