Beyond the Cash Flows:

Financial Competency Strategies for Women’s Entrepreneurial Success

Abstract

Women entrepreneurs play an increasingly important role in Malaysia’s economic and social development, contributing to household income, job creation, and community resilience. Despite accounting for more than 20% of registered businesses, women-owned enterprises often remain small, financially vulnerable, and concentrated in low-growth sectors. The rise of financial digitalisation through mobile banking, e-wallets, fintech platforms, and e-commerce offers new opportunities for inclusivity and growth, but it also creates challenges for women entrepreneurs who face gaps in digital readiness, financial literacy, and behavioural adaptation. The objectives of this study are:1) to investigate the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in steering financial digitalisation; 2) to recommend financial competency strategies that can reinforce their ability to sustain and grow businesses in the digital economy. A systematic review analysis was employed by retrieved the articles published between 2010 and 2024 from Scopus and Web of Sciences databases. The analysis found that women entrepreneurs benefit from financial digitalisation mainly when supported by three interrelated competencies: (1) enhancing digital financial literacy through targeted digital platforms; (2) developing digital financial behaviour to embed sound practices; and (3) integrating financial socialisation to reinforce sustainable decision-making through family, peers, and networks. By moving “beyond the cash flows,” this study highlights that access to financial technology alone is insufficient without the competencies to leverage it effectively. The results of this study are expected to contribute to the new body of knowledge on financial competencies, inform policy interventions on women’s entrepreneurship, and provide practical strategies for empowering women entrepreneurs as agents of inclusive and resilient economic growth in Malaysia.