Abstract
The impact of role models on early-stage women entrepreneurs remains underexplored, particularly in developing economies (Yousafzai et al., 2015). While early-stage entrepreneurship encompasses both nascent entrepreneurs and those who have already launched ventures, this study focuses on the latter, specifically women who have been operating their businesses for no more than forty two months (Močnik and Širec, 2016). This focus is driven by the fact that role model literature on women entrepreneurs predominantly examines entrepreneurial intention, with limited attention to those actively managing businesses (Austin and Nauta, 2016). In Bangladesh, despite targeted efforts to reduce gender and institutional barriers, female entrepreneurship remains disproportionately low (Eusuf et al., 2017; Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 2020). As a result, the country provides a valuable setting for examining how role models can help women entrepreneurs overcome challenges and advance their ventures. This study explores how early-stage women entrepreneurs identify and assess the credibility of role models and examines their influence on entrepreneurial experiences. The developmental paper first establishes the significance of studying role models in women’s entrepreneurship, presents the three research questions guiding the study, and outlines an initial plan for conducting the research.