It may not appear to be the most auspicious time to start a business. Cayman’s borders have been closed for some 18 months, unemployment has skyrocketed in the tourism industry, and the economy has taken a hit.
But some female entrepreneurs were undeterred, including Dawn McLean-Brady, owner of Arbutus Galley Restaurant in Grand Cayman and president of the Cayman Islands Small Business Association (CISBA).
McLean-Brady launched two businesses in the Sister Islands during the pandemic – Arbutus Galley Restaurant #2 and Jimmy D’s Poolside Bar, both at the Alexander Hotel in Cayman Brac.
“I’ve had a lot of stern warnings from people saying, ‘Are you sure it’s a good idea to start right now?’,” she says. “In my heart, being an entrepreneur in Grand Cayman for over eight years, heading up CISBA and hearing the plight of female entrepreneurs, my vision was: ‘But so many good businesses have started in hard times’.”
Overcoming adversity
Indeed, many female entrepreneurs know about overcoming adversity, having faced the global financial crisis in 2008, and now the pandemic.
“A pandemic and recession haven’t fazed us female entrepreneurs,” says McLean-Brady. “Instead, we see opportunities in the way the pandemic has changed attitudes, not just here in Cayman, but around the world, and how we do business.”
She notes when crisis strikes, women commonly experience greater setbacks than men, as they often earn less, hold more insecure jobs and make up most single-parent households.
“This pandemic is no different,” she says.
Studies show that globally, women are one-third more likely than men to work in a sector or industry shut down by the coronavirus.
Silver lining
McLean-Brady sees potential growth in entrepreneurship as a silver lining to the past year-and-a-half, during which time women have often disproportionately borne the brunt
of job losses.
“Perhaps because of this insecurity, women appear to be at the forefront of a nascent spirit of entrepreneurship,” she says.
“The cards may have been stacked against women, but out of the doom and desperation, we are seeing some extraordinary examples of strength and resilience, with some small pockets of hope and inspiration emerging.”
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