SMALL-SCALE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND POVERTY REDUCTION AMONG WOMEN IN JIGAWA STATE, NIGERIA
SMALL-SCALE BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND POVERTY REDUCTION AMONG WOMEN IN JIGAWA STATE, NIGERIA
Keywords:
Entrepreneurship, Poverty, Unemployment, Jigawa State, NigeriaAbstract
The study examines the effect of Women involvement in small business development on poverty
reduction in Jigawa State Nigeria. The study was motivated by the high rate of poverty among most
Nigerians in general and women in particular. The study population was made up of women
entrepreneurs in Jigawa State which is made up of 27 local government areas, while a multistage
sampling technique was used to arrive at the desired sample. Data was collected through the
administration of questionnaire checklist to the sampled respondents. The findings indicated that
women involvement in micro and small business enterprises has significant positive impact on
poverty reduction among families and the emergence of women entrepreneurship. The findings
further revealed that, culture and traditions, lack of support services in business development, high
collateral requirements for credit and difficult access to technology and market are some of the
hindrances to starting an enterprise for most women. The study concludes that the impact could be
more meaningful if some socio-economic, infrastructural and management challenges were
addressed. The paper thus, recommends the strengthening of women entrepreneurship through
creating more enabling environment for women enterprise, facilitating access to public support
services, fostering positive image of entrepreneurship amongst women and supporting mentoring
and coaching programs among others. The paper finally, contributes to the body of knowledge by
relating the effect of small businesses on poverty reduction among women which was not properly
documented particularly in rural areas where information about women business activities are
sketchy. Another contribution is with respect to the methodology used which allowed inferences
using empirical evidence