Wednesday, October 12,
2016
Entrepreneurship once
considered a man’s domain in Nigeria, has since made way for women as economic
opportunities have risen over the years for women who want to start and run
enterprises. Unfortunately, while more women are becoming entrepreneurs, they
seem not to be catching up with their male counterparts.
Women-owned businesses
still face a set of challenges that continue to limit their growth. To shed light
on some of these obstacles, Jumia Travel lists 5 reasons women-owned businesses
are not thriving in Nigeria
Limited access to
funding
This is the biggest
challenge faced by women-owned businesses across Nigeria as access to capital
is crucial to any small business' growth trajectory. Women face greater
obstacles than men when starting and growing a business, especially when it
comes to venture capitalists, financial institutions, and other lenders; who
are quick to deny their applications.
Basically, even when
the woman-owned business demonstrates a great business plan, have excellent
credit and demonstrate solid cash flow, it must also successfully navigate
through a process that tends to unfairly favor male-run startups. And when they
eventually access required capital, the interest rates are rather steep and
this tends to handicap the business over the long run. For women-owned
businesses to thrive, it is vital for the Nigerian society as a whole to ensure
that women have equal chances to do great things.
The times have changed,
however another entrepreneurial challenge women entrepreneurs still face in
Nigeria is that of cultural value or tradition. The cultural values across
Nigeria are such that the man/husband is the head of the household and as such
automatically expected to be the breadwinner. The male children are expected to
toe in the line of their fathers and inherit the family business maybe, while
the female children are usually left out of this entrepreneurial grooming
process.
A situation where there
is a deviation and the women start to exhibit entrepreneurial prowess, it is
assumed that she is being domineering and maybe even disrespectful to her
husband, who should be the one in charge. This is very discouraging and has
been a huge reason why many women-owned businesses have drowned even before
they got the chance to swim.
Lack of Role models and
limited mentorship programmes
Quality mentorship
plays a huge role in the success of any woman entrepreneur and her business. It
is particularly helpful for women to be enrolled in mentorship programmes or
have mentors who have faced the same challenges they have. Nigerian women
entrepreneurs, especially startups, however, do not have this support network
and end up drowning in the face of even the most trivial obstacles.
In fact, a number of
female founders report that lack of available advisers and mentors has been a
huge limitation to their professional growth. While there are a few expert
organizations and groups like WIMBIZ e.t.c , more institutions need to be set
up and women-focused networking events held to encourage the women so as to
spur growth in their businesses as well.
Societal discrimination
This is a huge issue
that has specifically affected the presence of women in the Nigerian tech
scene. In Nigeria, a majority of people still like to think that certain
businesses or tasks are better handled by men than women. You rarely see women
driving a commercial bus, working as a mechanic or running a tech startup as
the society often assume women are generally incompetent in certain fields of
work.
Women now think twice
before owning or delving into certain businesses because of the stigma that
could come with it. And while you think this challenge may be uncommon, it
actually has played a strong role in hampering the proliferation of women-owned
businesses.
SOURCE: VANGUARD