Women Entrepreneurs in Sub-Saharan Africa

This chapter briefly grasps the reality of women’s entrepreneurship in the sub-Saharan Africa with the most summarised review of separate country on each chapter. All nine countries have been revised individually based on the general overview and status of women’s entrepreneurship, historical frameworks, ecosystem and its future perspectives. These have been together with possible recommendations that are based on authors’ analysis of the country history, current situation and state of any available policies related to support and development of women entrepreneurship towards the future.

Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest rate of entrepreneurship in the world and is the only region where women make up most of those who are entrepreneurs. The contribution of women to economic growth has been acknowledge by several studies, but there is still a gap between female- and men-owned business as far as business performance is concerned, suggesting that women entrepreneurs’ full potential is not well harnessed in sub-Saharan Africa. In Cameroon, despite over five decades of gender development policies and activities, women remain underrepresented among entrepreneurs. After studying the evolution of gender roles in Cameroon from pre-colonisation till today, we could observe that women in traditional Africa were important economic actors whose role was not limited to reproduction and household chores. This will change with colonization, which will affect the social organisation and undermine the importance of women. After the country’s independence, various policies and programmes put in place will yield results. Several role models and women’s success story exist in Cameroon. But previous studies and the four profiles we present in this chapter reveal there are still several challenges (access to capital, technical support, local infrastructure, etc.) which need to be overcome in this sub-Saharan country for effective women’s economic empowerment.

This chapter gives a bird’s eye view of women’s entrepreneurship in Ethiopia. Followed by an introductory note on the chapter, a historical overview of the country, entrepreneurship ecosystem in context of Ethiopia with details on how and where the ecosystem falls short of expectations and what should be done to bridge the gaps, the current status of women’s entrepreneurship and challenges facing them have been discussed. A succinct paragraph in the form of final words has been written in the end.

Researching into female entrepreneurship is important because it enhances our understanding of the relationship between entrepreneurship and factors comprising family influences, labour market structures, female entrepreneurial behaviour, job creation, and human capital development. This chapter presents a historical overview of Ghanaian women’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, shaped by Ghana’s macro-economic, social, and political-legal institutional environments. The characteristics of these female entrepreneurs and their success factors in entrepreneurship are also discussed. Secondary data derived from the entrepreneurship literature was mostly used in this chapter. Hence, this chapter makes a contribution to the emerging literature on women’s entrepreneurship by restricting its scope to women’s entrepreneurship in the context of Ghana.

This chapter offers insights into women entrepreneurship in Kenya. The chapter initially provides the introductory notes followed by the historical overview of women entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurship ecosystem. The study continues by presenting the current state of women entrepreneurs. In the end, the chapter takes a look at the development of women entrepreneurship in the future.

Women entrepreneurs play an important role to development in sub-Saharan African countries. However, their businesses are faced with many challenges such as lack of capital, access to markets and many others. This is often linked with failure of government support towards assisting women-owned enterprises with capital and some infrastructural services. Women entrepreneurs in Lesotho face similar challenges related to lack of support. In the light of this, this book chapter examines the different government policies towards assisting women-owned businesses in Lesotho. It is argued in this chapter that women-owned businesses received government support during the initial years of post-independence. Policies and programmes that were meant to assist weaving enterprises that are mostly owned by women are included in the Five-Year Development Plan; however, other government policy documents that followed Five Year Development Plan are not explicit on assisting women entrepreneurs.

Africa and in particular sub-Saharan Africa has experienced global expansion for more than a decade, remained resilient through the global economic recession from 2008 to 2010, and now the COVID19 (coronavirus) pandemic has changed the way we live on a daily basis. One unique group of individuals who have withstand these challenges against all odds are women. This chapter highlights women entrepreneurship in sub-Saharan Africa with specific emphasis on Namibian women using in-depth interviews of 20 Namibian women from the Oshiwambo, Nama, Herero, San and Himba tribes. This chapter aims to pin the challenges women entrepreneurs face when setting up their businesses in the Republic of Namibia. In addition, the similarities and differences between these women will be unpack (notable reference will be made with regard to education and also role models), by also drawing from the experiences of other women in the country.

Research on women entrepreneurship is increasingly gaining traction in entrepreneurship research. Thus, and in considering this intensive focus on women entrepreneurship within the field of entrepreneurship, it is the right time to take stock and understand how it has evolved in the developing world. But and as opposed to undertaking a canvasing approach to studying this entrepreneurship phenomenon, this chapter pays attention on its trajectory in Nigeria – a Western African country in the sub-Saharan African region. The analysis presented in the chapter is categorised into three distinct phases, namely, pre-colonial, colonial and post-colonial eras. Such an approach is intended to generate deep insights into how women entrepreneurship has progressed over the years in Western African country. This is beneficial for various stakeholders including entrepreneurship scholars, practitioners and especially policymakers who have to support women entrepreneurs through targeted entrepreneurship policies.

This chapter gives a brief overview of women’s entrepreneurship in the Republic of Sierra Leone. It outlines the operational environment that underpins the Republic of Sierra Leone entrepreneurial landscape and the status of female entrepreneurship in the country. The chapter concludes by providing a call to action on priorities to address female entrepreneurship development in the Republic of Sierra Leone.

This chapter will provide a historical overview of South Africa in order to contextualise the challenges currently faced by entrepreneurs and specifically women entrepreneurs in this country. The history of South Africa is still affecting the lives of its citizens on a daily basis. This chapter continues to investigate the entrepreneurship ecosystem in South Africa. The entrepreneurship ecosystem is based on 14 pillars: opportunity perception, start-up skills, risk acceptance, networking, cultural support, opportunity start-up, technology absorption, human capital, competition, product innovation, process innovation, high growth, internationalisation and risk capital. This chapter concludes by looking towards the future of women entrepreneurship in South Africa, highlighting the changes that are required from all of the stakeholders that form part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

This chapter provides insights into women entrepreneurship in the United Republic of Tanzania (URT). Authors provide an introduction and background of women entrepreneurship in Tanzania with the historical overview of sociopolitical and economic development as well as the general entrepreneurial ecosystem. Government initiatives and policies for promoting women entrepreneurship within the country have been discussed together with some highlights of Tanzanian women entrepreneurship towards the future.

In many regions of the developing world, women are known to be the driving force supporting the livelihoods of their families, relatives and even communities. Therefore, understanding their socio-economic activities in the developing world is crucial. From that perspective, this chapter provides insights into women entrepreneurship in Zimbabwe. It also touches on the African entrepreneurship context and positions women entrepreneurship in a positive light contrary to the traditional approach in which the focus is often on its obstacles and restrictions. In that context, the chapter narrates how women entrepreneurship has evolved in Zimbabwe. Moreover, it spotlights the economic activities of women involved in cross-border trading as well as the environment ‘ecosystems’ that shape their entrepreneurial actions in the Southern African nation. These reflective insights generate unique knowledge with profound implications for country strategies, policymaking and women entrepreneurship business practices towards the future.