This study is an outcome of funded project by the BUE through the Young Investigator Research Grant (YIRG) conducted by Dr. Rania Miniesy , Ms. Engy Elshahawy and Dr. Hadia Fakhreldin. The study aims to examine the impact of social media (SM) on the creation of digital entrepreneurship, investigate if SM empowers those entrepreneurs and compare the empowerment characteristics between female and youth male entrepreneurs before and after starting their businesses.
The Study showed that 95% Of the surveyed entrepreneurs, asserted that without SM, they would not have started their businesses. Female and youth male entrepreneurs are empowered both on personal and relational levels, and women’s empowerment is more evident in the latter.
Female entrepreneurs are relatively more empowered than youth males after digital entrepreneurship when each group is compared with its initial status. Before digital entrepreneurship, youth males have significantly higher averages than female entrepreneurs in almost all empowerment characteristics, whereas after digital entrepreneurship, female entrepreneurs have significantly higher averages in making decisions related to investment, personal education and personal health, as well as those of other household members, and through facilitating decent job opportunities and empowering females, social media contributes to achieve gender equality and a huge economic growth.