This paper aims to investigate the challenges facing highly educated Egyptian women, who abandon a high paid job in the private sector to start their own business. This study, based on a qualitative research, focuses on demonstrating that educated women, with a good paid job in the formal private sector, encounter the same challenges as the rest of women in starting, running, and maintaining their business. The study employs in-depth interviews with 10 women from Cairo, Egypt, highly educated, formerly employed in highly paid jobs in the private sector, that converted to entrepreneurship. Data have been analyzed using QDA Miner software. The results reveal the same difficulties women face in starting, running, and maintaining their business, regardless of their level of education, revealing that among major obstacles in women entrepreneurship, in Egypt, are the socio-cultural constrains that define the role of women in the society.
women entrepreneurship, private sector, challenges to entrepreneurship, Egypt
L26, O53, J16, L20, J01