ASSESSMENT OF SMALL-SCALE BUSINESSES AS A TOOL OF ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT: A CASE STUDYOF BORNO STATE
ASSESSMENT OF SMALL-SCALE BUSINESSES AS A TOOL OF ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT: A CASE STUDYOF BORNO STATE
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Date
2012-03
Authors
GADZAMA, ISHAKU USMAN
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Abstract
Small-scale businesses play significant role as a tool for women economic empowerment in
Borno State but many underprivileged women’s capacity for wage earning and autonomous
existence are curtailed and most of them are adversely disempowered materially and otherwise.
However, women who are privileged to have been economically empowered through small-scale
businesses have numerous constraints that hinder their productivity. Socio-culturally, the
Nigerian women are regarded and treated under all circumstances as inferior to men. The
average Nigerian rural woman engages in farming, fishing, petty trading, herding, commerce and
industrial labour such as poultry keeping, cloth-making (weaving, knitting, sewing, dyeing),
pottery and craftwork among other economic activities alongside their male counterparts. It is
impossible for some business women to cope without depending on their husbands’ income. In
the attempt to empower themselves, women have taken it as a challenge to improve their
family’s welfare as most prefer not to be dependent on menfolk as is commonly found in
patriarchal societies. The quantitative data instrument which is a structured questionnaire was
administered in the form of interview using a multi-stage sampling technique. The respondents
were drawn from the major streets randomly selected in the area of study. The type of trades
engaged by small-scale business women and the spatial distribution of respondents informed the
choice of this method. Three hundred and ten (310) questionnaires were administered to women
mostly aged 30 years and below selected in ten (10) communities namely; Bama Motor Park,
Borno Express Terminus, Custom, Post Office and Wulari in Maiduguri Metropolitan Council
(MMC). In Askira, Hussara (Mishara), Lassa, Tampul and Uba in Askira/Uba LGA the
questionnaires were also administered. In addition, purposive sampling method was used to also
select forty four (44) participants for the Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) and six (6) key
informants for In-Depth Interviews (IDIs). Qualitative and quantitative data collected were
analyzed using descriptive statistics and in prose. The nature of small-scale businesses engaged
by women for economic empowerment in Borno State revealed that 69.1% of the respondents
operate their small-scale businesses at the markets and road sides and majority of them do not
pay for shops/kiosks as rent but pay token as revenue to the government. The respondents earned
below N3, 000.00 only per week before they start their trades, while two third of the sample
(66.2%) earn N5, 000.00 below per week after they ventured in small-scale businesses. Eighty
two per cent of them have benefited from loans, credit facilities or assistance in the
form of
material or in cash from private or government financial service providers. Although, qualitative
data obtained established that a significant proportion of the women claimed that the loans they
have received were inadequate. Eighty two per cent of the respondents’ source their funds from
micro-credit scheme and engage in trades like koisai/akara (bean cake), fried groundnuts,
vegetables/fruits, grasshoppers and kuli-kuli (groundnut cake). As to the factors that influence
small-scale business women, the findings discovered that women participated in small-scale
businesses to supplement family income. The findings also found unemployment and
cultural/environmental influences to be very high. Majority of the women said that they are
given leadership positions as a result of their entrepreneurial abilities in providing the basic
needs of their families. Data on the contribution of small-scale businesses revealed that a
substantial proportion of the sample (73.7%) said that they participate in businesses to make
them have autonomy from their male counterparts, while an overwhelming proportion of the
sample (73.4%) attested that the trades they engaged in do not prevent them from performing
their domestic responsibilities as housewives. In addition, 65.6% of the respondents are aware
that women in kulle/purdah (seclusion) also participate in small-scale businesses for economic
empowerment. Substantial proportion of the sample indicated that small-scale businesses are
useful to the women’s economic empowerment because they made them to work as a team as
well as provide them with a sense of personal achievement. The major predicament faced by the
business women is government environmental restriction. At the family level, the women are
ound to develop a cordial and friendly relationship with their spouses before and after they
venture in small-scale businesses. The study also revealed that women and their husbands are
both responsible for providing the basic family needs. Conclusively, the women were found to
have assumed many domestic responsibilities. They also augment their husbands’ income and to
be self-reliance. Based on these realities in the state, the study advocated that the business
women should be encouraged by the government to actively participate in trades that are more
dominated by men at present by providing adequate loans with free interest to further strengthen
their economic empowerment. The study recommended that the women should diversify their
business activities and not to operate the same type of trades.
Description
A THESIS SUBMITTED TO SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE
STUDIES, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
AWARD OF DEGREE OF MASTERS OF SCIENCE IN SOCIOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY,
FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES,
AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA
MARCH, 2012
Keywords
ASSESSMENT,, SMALL,, SCALE,, BUSINESSES,, TOOL,, ECONOMIC,, EMPOWERMENT,, CASE,, STUDY,, BORNO,, STATE,