Women entrepreneurs and government neglect in the face of Covid-19: resilience of social cadets through online commercial innovation

Abstract

One of the major social transformations brought about by Covid-19 in Cameroon with the internet tool is the development of e-shop commercial activities. At the center of this movement are women whose socio-economic profiles show that they are in a situation of financial vulnerability. The areas of commercial intervention of these women range from the clothing industry to the food industry, including cosmetics, catering and natural health products. If their motivations are part of a dynamic of personal development which is linked to their career paths, most of these women make digital platforms spaces of economic profitability to escape their precarious state. Relying on a network of wholesale suppliers based in China, Turkey or in large shopping centers in the cities of Yaoundé and Douala, the sellers participate in the dematerialization of sales spaces for their digitalization. This is explained by the numerous advantages offered by the phenomenon: the payment of rent which replaces payment of the internet package for various transactions. This form of utilitarian accumulation of digital capital provides information not only on the socio-economic transformation of Cameroon by social cadets but also on the meaning of the relationships between these online sellers, their customers and their suppliers and the patriarchal structure of the social system. The aim of this work is to understand, beyond a precarious environment, the capacity of women entrepreneurs in the unstructured economy sector to overcome the changes brought about by Covid-19. To do this, the analytical approach is structuralist, it relies on a network of symbolic relationships which would make possible the political analysis of the position of women in Cameroon, the crisis situation and their empowerment.