Developing Rural Women Entrepreneurs as a Key to Poverty Reduction in Ghana: The Case of Wa Municipality (original) (raw)
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In the developing world, women work hard at a variety of tasks with little control over productive resources. women entrepreneurs, identified sources of venture capital and analysed factors that militate against women entrepreneurs. The study employed questionnaires and interviews for data collection. Simple random s sampling techniques were employed for data collection. Graphs, charts percentages and tables were used for analysis of the findings. The study revealed that the major barriers facing women entrepreneurs are access to credi cultural barriers. Also majority of the women entrepreneurs were within the 36 age cohort with educational level up to primary school. Further, the main source of financing businesses was own savings with bank loans registering Therefore, skills training through education and credit women are recommended in this regard.
Fostering Women Entrepreneurship as Panacea to Poverty Reduction in Developing Economy By
Nigerian Journal of Management Studies, 2018
The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of women entrepreneurship on poverty reduction in Nigeria. In so doing it addresses a gap in the literature on factors that affects women's role in entrepreneurship. The paper draws on survey data from 190 female entrepreneurs currently engaged in their business in Ogun State within the South West of Nigeria. Data were collected and processed using inferential statistics including Chi-Square and regression to test the hypotheses. The study revealed the fact that women contribute enormously to poverty reduction, but other than that they contribute to employment creation, skills and economic development. The study also revealed risk factors that often impede women's active and progressive role as entrepreneurs. It was recommended that government should make policies that will positively enhance the participation of women in entrepreneurial activities and also engage women in entrepreneurial education which seems to be the major key to promote entrepreneurship development in Nigeria thereby making the Nigerian business environment more conducive for women to participate. This study provides novel and unique contributions regarding research interest that is hardly been studied empirically in developing economy.
Journal of Agricultural Extension and Rural Development, 2022
This survey study examines the effectiveness of a Rural Enterprise Programme (REP) in improving the livelihood of rural women in Ghana, using ex-anti and ex-post income determinants of the programme. Some 217 beneficiary women drawn from farm-based, agro-processing, traditional craft, agro industrial and petty trading economic sub-sectors selected to participate in the survey using snowball sampling method. Using cross-sectional design, questionnaire with open and closed ended items was used to collect data. The IBM SPSS Statistics (SPSS version 20) was used to analyze the data and the results were qualitatively presented in tables and charts. The study found that the various inputs and strategies used in the Rural Enterprise Programme to empower women included education and training that equipped beneficiary with literacy skills to enhance their entrepreneurial roles and labour market. The result showed that the women empowerment strategies employed by the programme produced intermediate and long-term outcomes increasing the nominal income of the participants, indicating improvement in the well-being of the rural women. However, the study identified a gap in accessing affordable finance (credit) and high cost of inputs which presented challenge to the responsiveness of the REP to the beneficiary rural women economic well-being. The study corroborates the literature on rural women empowerment in West African that evidence a high degree of vulnerabilities of rural women's access to economic resources which are predominantly owned by men. The study recommends future ethnographically informed case study to investigate culturally responsive strategies that can work best in economically empowering women in African traditional rural mendominated cultural and economic context.
European Journal of Business and Management, 2016
Women own a substantial percentage of small scale enterprises worldwide and play critical roles in rural development. They, however, remain disadvantaged in terms of access to financial support for starting and expanding their businesses. This paper examined the prospects and challenges of developing women-owned businesses through micro-finance as a strategy for poverty alleviation in the Nanumba North and South Districts of the Northern Region of Ghana. Applying the mixed research methodological research strategy to explore the subject, the paper suggests that women micro-enterprise development through micro-finance positively impacted on the lives of rural women entrepreneurs and their households regarding self-employment, better incomes, household food security, enrolment and retention of children in school, greater access to health care and access to information on reproductive health issues. In this regard, the paper argues that strategies that aim at boosting rural women’s pro...
2018
This research primarily focused on the effect of female participation in small and medium scale enterprises on poverty status of women households in Lagos State. Multistage sampling technique was employed to collect data from 114 respondents comprising 56 Micro and Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (MSMEs) participants and 58 non-participants in the study area. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, Foster, Greer and Thorbecke’s (FGT) weighted poverty index and the Probit Regression analysis. The study revealed that the sampled non-participants female households had higher poverty incidence (60%) while the SME participants’ poverty incidence was less than 15%. Also, the result showed that the non-participants contributed heavily to the poverty of the whole group and that MSMEs’ participants benefited directly from government entrepreneurship programmes whereas the non-participants did not enjoy any direct benefit. The estimated regression analysis revealed that educational status, participation in MSMEs, access to microfinance credit, household income, and monogamous household type are factors that reduce poverty status of households. It was concluded with policy recommendations that government should promote more female entrepreneurship development as a remedy to escape from rural household poverty in the rural area of Lagos state.
The Journal of Agricultural Extension, 2018
The study assessed the contributions of rural women entrepreneurs in non–farm and off–farm enterprises to household poverty reduction in Abia State, Nigeria. The specific objectives were to: examine the socio- economic characteristics of the respondents, identify the non- farm and off- farm activities, ascertain the extent of contribution, and determine the contribution of income from non- farm and off- farm activities to poverty reduction respectively. A sample size of 180 respondents selected via multi stage sampling technique was used. Data generated via the use of questionnaire and were analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistics respectively. Results showed a mean age of 46 years, 66.7 % were married, 93.8 % were literates with a mean monthly income of ₦23,444.00 and a mean household size of 5 persons respectively. Farm –gate trading (38.9 %), agro- processing (16.7 %), general merchandise (11.1%), restaurants/ bars (16.7 %), civil servants (4.4 %), and others (5...
AFRICAN MULTIDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT, 2022
The emphasis on the impact of entrepreneur development on poverty reduction is a source of concern for entrepreneurs, scholars, practitioners, and governments in developing economies such as Nigeria. The poverty situation in Nigeria is the concept of feminization of poverty in the sense that women make up a larger percentage of the poor. More so, the inability of the existing programmes on entrepreneurial development to improve the participation of women in entrepreneurial activities is a pointer to the need for further empirical investigation. The extent of women's involvement in entrepreneurship toward poverty reduction is worthy of exploration in Nigeria. This study therefore, examine the impact of women's entrepreneurship development on poverty alleviation among small and medium-sized enterprises in Lagos State. The study employed both primary and secondary data. The population of the study comprises of A total of 1,396,777 active micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) entrepreneurs in Lagos state who had at one time or the other benefited from entrepreneurship support programs. Data collected were analysed using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The results of descriptive analysis revealed that women's entrepreneurship programs are a means of women's entrepreneurship development and income earned also form a mean to women's entrepreneurship development. The results (R 2 = 0.652; Adj R 2 = 0.647, P= 0.001) of multiple regression revealed that there is a positive and significant effect of the women's entrepreneurship programme on poverty alleviation. The study concluded that women's participation in entrepreneurship development positively influences poverty allegation in Nigeria. It was recommended that the government should spend more on programmes that can strengthen women's entrepreneurship development and poverty alleviation in Lagos state, Nigeria.
Women's small and medium enterprises for poverty alleviation in Sub‐Saharan Africa
Management Research Review, 2011
PurposeThe purpose of this study is to focus on women small and medium enterprises (WSMEs) financed by Kenya Women Finance Trust (KWFT) for poverty alleviation in Kakamega District‐Kenya.Design/methodology/approachThe study utilized cross‐sectional data from KWFT and follow‐up field survey data of women beneficiaries of KWFT credit. Multi‐stage stratified sampling technique was adopted to identify 90 women entrepreneurs of the total population of 300. Primary data were gathered using structured and non‐structured questionnaires, interview schedules and focus group discussions. The study adopts both qualitative and quantitative data analysis.FindingsKWFT micro credit has had a positive impact upon women entrepreneurs on income savings, asset creation and their general social welfare. However, the KWFT's fight against poverty is constrained by socio‐culture and other institutional policy issues such as: right to own property, right to education, own land, manage and inherit proper...
The study sought to highlight the experiences of women beneficiaries of the Microfinance and Small Loans Centre (MASLOC), with regards to its services and effects on their businesses and lives. A total of 341 women from 5 districts in the Brong Ahafo Region were selected. Face-to-face interviews were used to collect data. Several relevant statistical tests were used for data analysis. The study reveals that, although the women preferred individual loans, which give more money, the majority received microcredit/group loans due to the lack of collateral security. Politicisation of loans and discrimination also affected women's access to MASLOC loans. The loans that the women received were lower than stipulated by MASLOC and woefully inadequate, coupled with the fewer numbers of times that loans were received, shorter repayment periods and late disbursement caused meaningful and long-time impact on the beneficiaries' businesses. Nevertheless, the study demonstrates that there was expansion of the women's businesses and their ability to provide for the personal and basic needs of their children. MASLOC should consider using guarantors only as requirement for individual loans; commit more resources for its operations in order to perform its role as a pro-poor institution; and use mobile money transfer system for loan retrieval to reduce its overall expenditure.
International Journal of Business Administration, 2017
Entrepreneurship literatures have increasingly acknowledge the desire by women to be economically independent, their roles and contributions as women entrepreneurs in shaping labour market is continuously increasing. The study investigated the roles of women entrepreneurs in socioeconomic development of Small and Medium Enterprises in Niger State. This was achieved through examining the effect of the activities of women entrepreneurs on the poverty level, determine the impact created by women entrepreneurs on employment opportunities and establish the influence of women entrepreneur activities on the standard of living of the people of Niger State. The Methodology used for data collection was survey design. The target population comprised all registered businesses owned by women in Niger State. Based on purposive sampling 75 women entrepreneurs were engaged. A structured questionnaire using summated rating scale 1-5 were administered face to face on the chosen sample. However, only 60 questionnaires were returned and deemed usable representing 80% response rate. The product moment correlation and multiple linear regression were employed for the data analysis. The study concluded that women entrepreneurs play a major role in poverty reduction and employment opportunities in Niger State. The study recommends that Niger State government should aggressively pursue provision of infrastructures such as water, electricity, roads and security to life and properties to reduce cost of doing business in the state.