Women Entrepreneurship In Nigeria Drivers, Barriers And Coping Strategies

Entrepreneurship is often considered a male-gendered concept and carries masculine connotations. However, the importance of women entrepreneurs and their contribution to the economy has recently been realized. Over the years women are seen in Nigeria business ecosystem as an unequal gender coupled with the cultural heritage of Nigeria where each woman is expected to be submissive. Women entrepreneurs struggle with gender discrimination, financial constraints, work-family conflict, lack of infrastructural support, unfavourable business and political environments, lack of entrepreneurship education, and personality-related barriers. These obstacles negatively impact the profitability, growth and survival of women-owned businesses. Our paper provides insights into the drivers, barriers and strategies women entrepreneurs adapt to survive and grow their businesses. To achieve this goal, an unstructured questionnaire was employed to elicit information from participants. This study informs entrepreneurs, policymakers and the research community of the survival strategies adopted by women entrepreneurs in Nigeria to deal with the challenges they are facing.