Title: From home to jua kali enterprise spaces: entrepreneurship and female gender identity

Authors: Mary Njeri Kinyanjui

Addresses: Institute for Development Studies, University of Nairobi, P.O. Box 30197 00–100 GPO, Nairobi, Kenya

Abstract: This paper shows women entrepreneurs juggling their gender identity while moving from home to jua kali enterprise spaces. The women start businesses to realise their entrepreneurial desires. These women diligently apply themselves in managing successful firms. They tap their unique feminine attributes such as patience, perseverance and hard work, as well as ability to interact and collaborate with others. This paper shows how women entrepreneurs turn little spaces into nests where gender and business relationships evolve. By joining identity preservation networks and peer entrepreneurship groups, these women overcome business problems. This treatise concludes by proposing a model of female entrepreneurship that is not in conflict with their gender: one that relies on trust and commonality of goals. The proposed model is a combination of three principles of the female gender: space; hard work and perseverance; and interaction and collaboration. The paper surmises that female gender identity can be an asset in entrepreneurship.

Keywords: entrepreneurship; gender identity; jua kali; networks; small business; female entrepreneurs; women entrepreneurs; enterprise spaces; perseverance; collaboration.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2008.017312

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2008 Vol.5 No.3/4, pp.401 - 411

Published online: 24 Feb 2008 *

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