Title: Motivation, challenges and strategies of female social entrepreneurs in the micro-lending sector

Authors: Chijioke Nwachukwu; Helena Chládková; Hieu Minh Vu

Addresses: Department of Business Management, Horizons University, Paris, France; Department of Economics and Finance, South Ural State University, Chelyabinsk, Russia ' Department of Management, Mendel University, Brno, Czechia ' Faculty of Business Administration, Van Lang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Abstract: The study highlights the motivations and challenges of female social entrepreneurs and their responses to these challenges. The study employs a qualitative research approach and in-depth interviews of 13 female social entrepreneurs in Southwest Nigeria. We observed that financial empowerment for low-income earners, support for the family, and a better society are main motivation of social entrepreneurship. We observed that women entrepreneurs face business and institutional challenges, like lack of access to fund and infrastructure, gender bias, institutional corruption, lack of awareness about rules and regulations and bureaucratic bottlenecks. The study advances the field by identifying the role of female social entrepreneurs in providing financial services to low-income segments of society and solving societal issues in the emerging market context.

Keywords: female social entrepreneurship; institutional theory; feminist theory; challenges; motivations; strategy; Nigeria.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBE.2024.137819

International Journal of Business Environment, 2024 Vol.15 No.2, pp.220 - 237

Received: 21 Nov 2021
Accepted: 30 Jan 2023
Published online: 05 Apr 2024 *

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