Bridging Male-Female Gaps in Rural Entrepreneurship Capability Development in Osun State, Nigeria

The study described the socio-economic characteristics of male and female rural entrepreneurs in Osun state, Nigeria, identified the enterprise characteristics on gender basis, examined the causes of entrepreneurship gap and suggested the strategies to bridging the gap with the view to enhancing rural entrepreneurship capability development. Multistage sampling procedure was employed to select 150 respondents for the study from four local government areas of the state. Data were described with percentages, means and standard deviation while independent t test was used for inferential purpose. Results showed that the mean ages of male and female entrepreneurs were 42.6±8.6 years and 42.3±12.1 years, respectively and the majority (76% and 81.3%) of male and female respondents were married with the mean year of education of 13.4 ± 3.7and 10 ±4.2 years, respectively. Gaps were identified in the enterprise characteristics of respondents such as business choice with 30.7% and 40% of males and females, respectively engaging in agribusiness and trading: with average staff strength at 3 and 1 person(s), mean capital investment at N 26,326 and N 14,013, mean income size at N 97,602 and N 35,698 and rate of exit at 59% and 53%. There was a significant difference in male and female entrepreneurs’ motives (t= -2.616; p≤ 0.01), perception (t=2.918; p≤ 0.05), access to finance (t=3.921; p≤ 0.01), among others. The significant variables were responsible for the observed male-female gap and adequate extension education on rural entrepreneurship capability development is germane to providing necessary enlightenment capable of minimizing gender differences among the rural entrepreneurs