Entrepreneurship is a dynamic process of creating and adding value through business, ideation, and innovation. Women, as a significant part of rural society, must have the opportunity to participate in economic activities to achieve social empowerment, engage in decision-making, and improve their livelihoods. Small businesses, utilizing microcredit facilities, serve as an empowering activity for rural women. This study aimed to examine the life cycle of women’s businesses in the rural areas of Marvdasht County, Fars Province, as identifying the various stages of the life cycle is essential for implementing effective entrepreneurship development strategies at each stage. The study population was 375-unit home-based businesses that were members of microcredit funds in Marvdasht County. The stratified random sampling method with appropriate allocation was conducted, and 190 rural women were randomly selected from occupational groups as strata. The results indicated that, based on the path analysis model of the life cycle stages, the family support variable in the birth stage, the incentive policies variable in the growth and maturity stages, and the independence variable in the decline stage had the most significant positive impact on entrepreneurship development. Educational needs assessment and training of women in technical and psychological aspects, raising the general literacy level, and creating economic and social incentives for women’s empowerment, as well as identifying the cultural and social structure of the community and the challenges of women’s emergence in rural society and turning these challenges into empowering opportunities, were among the policy recommendations based on the research findings.