Challenges facing women entrepreneurs in Nigeria

Halkias, Daphne; Nwajiuba, Chinedum; Harkiolakis, Nicholas; Caracatsanis, Sylva M.

doi:10.1108/01409171111102821

Cited by 139 publications

(112 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

100

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our objective was to understand how rural women perceive microfinance, the risks they consider and influences on participation and usage. As Jack et al (2008) argue, conclusions reached (Anderson and Obeng, 2017), lack of alternatives and driven by family dynamics (Halkias et al, 2011). "I Our respondents all work hard, on average they spend nine hours per day on businesses.…”

Section: Page 6 Of 22 Journal Of Small Business and Enterprise Develomentioning

confidence: 95%

Experiencing microfinance

Ukanwa

Xiong

Anderson

2017

JSBED

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to address the problem of why the poorest, most disadvantaged groups such as rural African women, benefit less from microfinance. The authors focus on the perception and experiences of ordinary rural entrepreneurial women on microfinance in a context of extreme poverty and where family responsibility and economic activities are closely intertwined. Design/methodology/approach The authors purposefully sampled 15 poor females with small businesses in two Nigerian villages. The key characteristic guiding the sampling was that the respondents had to be poor. The authors held two focus groups and ten interviews to capture their experience and understanding of microfinance. The authors used thematic analysis to establish patterns in the data. Findings For poor entrepreneurial women, a livelihood for survival, putting food on the table and paying school fees are priorities, not business growth. They see microcredit as debt and a great risk that could lead to irreversible losses. Family responsibilities for basic consumption needs of the household can affect their ability to repay loans; perceived dangers of microcredit may outweigh potential benefits. Research limitations/implications The theories, especially functionalist economic theory, do not take account of microfinance users’ experiences. Practical implications Microfinance should be aware that the poorest perceive microcredit differently and should eliminate the intimidating barriers raised to them. Instead of providing a means for the poor to alleviate poverty or coping strategies for them to manage cash flows and risks, microfinance causes fear and anxiety by demanding high rate of return in a very short period of time. Social implications The very poorest, who should be the beneficiaries of microfinance, are less likely to be able to benefit. The condition of poverty creates different realities for those at the base of the pyramid. Originality/value This research questions the neoliberal rationality assumptions that microfinance rest on; the paper fills a gap in the literature, i.e. how the potential borrowers themselves living in deep-rooted poverty perceive and experience microfinance.

show abstract

Section: Page 6 Of 22 Journal Of Small Business and Enterprise Develomentioning

confidence: 95%

Experiencing microfinance

Ukanwa

Xiong

Anderson

2017

JSBED

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Women entrepreneurs suffer from a set of diverse constraints like financial constraint (Halkias et al, 2011) or credit constraint in financial institutions (Roomi et al, 2009) and non-financial barriers.…”

Section: Figure 1 Model Of Women Entrepreneursmentioning

confidence: 99%

Performance of Women Entrepreneurs: Does Access to Finance Really Matter?

Khaleque

2018

EJBE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Bangladesh adopts labor intensive industrialization and inclusive finance strategy to fight against poverty. The strategies help the disadvantaged women empower and encourage doing something independently. But most of women entrepreneurs concentrated on major four types of businesses: parlor, boutique, clothing and fashion, which limit access to finance. The lack of access to finance was suspected to hamper their business growth. To understand such relationship, the descriptive as well as econometric tools and techniques were used. Durbin-Wu-Hausman test was used to test the endogeneity of the loan size. The test statistics suggest that the loan size is exogenous. Therefore, using the simple OLS method with various forms of error variances the regression results are estimated. Finally, the Feasible GLS method has been used to correct the heteroscedasticity problem. The result shows that the credit constraints and the credit size affect the monthly turnover of women entrepreneurs. The relaxation of credit constraint increases 6 percent monthly turnovers holding other things remaining same and so, it can be concluded that relaxing credit constraints improves business performance of women entrepreneurs.

show abstract

“…Due to their low financial status, women have weaker bargaining power. Microfinance have a poverty reducing effect and improves female psychological and social empowerment in Ghana, reinforcing their confidence and selfesteem to actively participate in household and community decision making processes (Annim and Alnaa 2013;D`Espallier et al 2014;Halkias et al, 2011). Conversely, lack of asset ownership and access to credit impedes entrepreneurial growth in Africa United Nations (2009), and these constraints are often greater for female entrepreneurs (Goltz, 2015).…”

Section: Cultural and Institutional Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is women empowerment a zero sum game? Unintended consequences of microfinance for women’s empowerment in Ghana

Salia

Hussain

Tingbani

et al. 2017

IJEBR

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Purpose: Against the background of growing concerns that development interventions can sometimes be a zero-sum game, this paper examines the unintended consequences of microfinance for women empowerment in Ghana.Design/methodology/approach: The study employs a participatory mixed-method approach including household questionnaire surveys, focus group discussions and key informant interviews to investigate the dynamics of microfinance effects on women in communities of different vulnerability status in Ghana. Findings:The results of hierarchical regression, triadic closure and thematic analyses demonstrate that the economic benefits of microfinance for women is also directly associated with conflicts amongst spouses, girl child labour, polygyny and the neglect of perceived female-domestic responsibilities due to women's devotion to their enterprises. Originality/value:In the light of limited empirical evidence on potentially negative impacts of women empowerment interventions in Africa, this paper fills a critical gap in knowledge that will enable NGOs, policy makers and other stakeholders to design and implement more effective interventions that mitigate undesirable consequences.

show abstract

Challenges facing women entrepreneurs in Nigeria

Cited by 139 publications

References 1 publication

Experiencing microfinance

Experiencing microfinance

Performance of Women Entrepreneurs: Does Access to Finance Really Matter?

Is women empowerment a zero sum game? Unintended consequences of microfinance for women’s empowerment in Ghana

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About