There are some challenges of female entrepreneurs in Nigeria which shall be herein discussed for the sake of knowledge. It is not surprising that entrepreneurship is a big business engagement which requires not only the business acumen to help direct, it also needs the the rugged spirit of persistence and tenacity to help confront the many challenges of entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurship is defined as the activity that involves starting and running any business of your choice. It is a position which possesses the tendency to be creative and wish to work for yourself in your own enterprise. Anyone, be it a woman or man who is engaged in some venture that has to do with buying and selling, is called an entrepreneur.
The Four Types of Entrepreneurship
- Small Business
- Scalable Startup
- Large Company
- Social Entrepreneurship
But it is heartbreaking that in a typical Nigerian society, gender consciousness is a debilitating factor in the business affair of the country as much as it is the same in other areas and sectors. Nigeria, as in every African countries, is absolutely considered a patriarchal society; this is much the reason why so many businesses owned by women are often faced with so many challenges which on the other hand may seem insurmountable.
Challenges of Female Entrepreneurs in Nigeria.
The challenges of female entrepreneurs in Nigeria are many but we shall be picking the few depressing ones which you need to be aware of in case you have been wondering what the problems faced by business women are. Below are some of them:
1. Women Do not Get the Adequate Supply of funds
Because we live in a society where the male ego prevails over most of its socio-political policies, it is often hard for women to climb up the ladder of success without meeting with several emotional discords such as sentiment, bias, gender favoritism, etc. This is in fact one of the most serious challenges of female entrepreneurs in Nigeria. The women do not get to have enough access to capital. 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.
Most women are subjected to face sexual coercion or assault before they can secure the required capital. Even if peradventure they get the needed funds, the interest rates are steep and this tends to handicap the business over the long run.
2. Societal discrimination
The presence of women in the Nigerian business world is often threatened by this as one of the challenges of female entrepreneurs in Nigeria. We live in a society that prefers men to women when it comes to leadership positions. It places men above women because it believes women can do nothing of its own on its own. This informs the reality where 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.
While you think this challenge may be uncommon, it actually has played a strong role in hampering the proliferation of women-owned businesses.
3. Doubts About The Competence Of Female Entrepreneurs
Following the above points, a lot of doubts have roused from the societal consciousness that women are inferior to men in terms of capacity, tenacity, and competence. This also another great challenge as it belittles women’s competence. In cases where the story is a disproof of the status quo, envy and jealousy are raised to frustrate the female entrepreneur.
4. Unlike Male Counterparts, Female Entrepreneurs Lack Role models
As women from all fields and sectors in the country face almost the same thing, there is a massive lack of quality mentorship which, thus, plays a huge role in encumbering the success of many female entrepreneurs in Nigeria. Nonetheless, it will be helpful for women to be role modelled or to have mentors who may have faced the same challenges they now face and have risen above the challenges against all odds. Unfortunately, this too is another challenge, THAT IS, getting a model or mentor because those who will stand as mentors are also facing just the same thing and are still grappling with the gender phenomenon. 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.
5. Women Find It Hard to Manage Time
Times have not changed because the same entrepreneurial challenges of female entrepreneurs in Nigeria is time management. Given the pressure, domestic and societal, that is placed upon the women’s shoulders, it will be hard for a woman to really find time to focus absolutely on her business as would a man. This problem is however borne of cultural value or tradition. The cultural values across Nigeria are such that the woman is a shoulder on which the home must rest for domestic needs while the man’s to get the money. 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.
