Assessing the impact of women’s enterprises on household livelihoods and survival: Evidence from the North West Region of Cameroon

Abstract

The microenterprise sector has emerged as a major strategy to address the issues of unemployment and poverty challenging most developing economies. With limited alternatives to generate income on offer, the sector has become an attractive strategy to enhance the livelihoods of the poor as it provides low-income people with the opportunity to undertake income generation. Inspired by recent debates on the role of women's micro enterprise activity, the paper examines women's contribution to household survival through their enterprise activity. Drawing on empirical data from the North West Region of Cameroon, the study confirms that WMSEs are central to the economic prospects of a majority of female entrepreneurs. These enterprises offer the sole source of income for these households and are strategic in meeting the basic household needs. The paper also argues that whilst women's enterprises provide a safety net for household survival and a springboard for women's economic participation, entrepreneurs remain trapped in traditional, low return activities.

Women-owned businesses and household welfare

“…This study also finds that the entrepreneurial activities of these women contribute to the larger economy through the promotion of tourism, the generation of employment and through export trade. Similar results are found for business women in Cameroon where Abonge (2012) observes that these women are, in a number of cases, the principal earners and sometimes the sole providers of the household, for both female-headed households and couple-headed households. In the case of couple-headed households, the situation is attributed to lack of employment for their spouses.…”

“…Literature on the effect of women's business ownership on the welfare of the household is nevertheless limited. Some earlier research into welfare impact of women-owned businesses examined subjective well-being measures (Abonge, 2012;Misango and Ongiti, 2013;Ojo and Wurani, 2013). These studies are largely qualitative.…”

Strengthening gender equality in small business and achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs): Comparative analysis of Kenya and Nigeria

“…In a study carried out in the North West Region of Cameroon, Abonge (2012) found that micro and small-scale businesses have grown to be the mainstay of disadvantaged women entrepreneurs forced to run these businesses for home provisioning and as a method of obtaining employment for themselves. The ability of women to manage a business is generally seen as having the most significant positive impact on their ability to provide for basic household necessities.…”

The Role of Women-in-Agriculture and Youth Empowerment Programme Among Irish Potato Farmers in Plateau State, Nigeria

“…Farming experience in Irish potato, the result in Table 1 indicated that, (67%) and (54%) of both the participating farmers and non-participating farmers had Irish potato farming experience between 1-10 years and 11-20 years, respectively. Abonge (2012) opined that farming experience is an important factor in determining both the productivity and the production level in farming. The result in Table 1 reveals that (55%) and (47%) of the participating farmers and non-participating farmers had secondary school education, which constituted the largest number of educational qualifications attained in the study area.…”