Despite extensive research on women's entrepreneurship in Western contexts, the entrepreneurial experiences of single mothers in crisis-affected Southeast Asian nations remain critically underexplored. This study contributes to addressing this gap by examining how single mothers in Myanmar navigate entrepreneurship amid political upheaval, economic collapse, and pervasive social stigma following the 2021 military coup. Through semi-structured interviews with eight single mother entrepreneurs, analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis, three interrelated themes emerged. First, participants experienced a transformation from necessity to agency, evolving from crisis-driven survival strategies toward unexpected empowerment as they developed business competence and entrepreneurial identities that transcended mere survival. Second, stigma operated paradoxically as both barrier and bond; while marginalization excluded participants from mainstream business networks and necessitated strategic identity management, it simultaneously fostered solidarity and reciprocal support systems among women who shared similar struggles. Third, participants redefined entrepreneurial success through maternal frameworks, measuring achievement by their capacity to feed children, afford education, and maintain dignity rather than conventional profit metrics. These findings challenge deficit-based narratives dominating Western-centric entrepreneurship discourse by revealing how marginalized women construct alternative economies grounded in maternal ethics and mutual aid. The study demonstrates that entrepreneurship in crisis contexts functions simultaneously as survival imperative and site of resistance. Findings carry significant implications for policymakers and development practitioners, emphasizing the necessity of context-sensitive approaches that recognize women-centered solidarity economies rather than imposing Western business paradigms that overlook caregiving realities and gendered constraints within diverse cultural contexts.

Authors:
Thazin Win, International Executive School, France
Zina Kyriakou, International Executive School, France

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Zina Kyriakou holds a DBA from the International School of Management (ISM) in New York, USA, serves as the Dean for the International Executive School (IES) in Strasbourg, France.

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