Exploring the Hindrances to Women Entrepreneurship, Development and Prosperity in Nigeria

There was gender imbalance for a long time in the control of wealth in Nigeria particularly in the north because entrepreneurship used to be male-dominated; only men used to own businesses and controlled factors of production. This infamous trend has however dwindled especially in the last two decades but not at a satisfactory level. This paper aims to examine the core hindrances to female entrepreneurship in Nigeria. Data used were mainly from secondary sources-Federal Office of Statistics (FOS), NDHS (2008), NBS (2007) and Annabel & Mairo (2007) on the variables affecting the growth of female entrepreneurship in Nigeria, particularly in the northern region. Sources of fuel wood, child marriage and educational exposure of Nigerian women were the three main variables used in presenting the available data and how these combine to retard the growth of women entrepreneurship in Nigeria. Also, in-depth interviews were carried out by the authors to complement our secondary data. Sixteen (16) female entrepreneurs were purposively selected from sixteen (16) systematically chosen households at Ota in Ado-Odo Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State and interviewed with a semi-structured questionnaire that centre on various aspects of female entrepreneurship in the State and in Nigeria as a whole. Deductions made from the data and interviews were presented descriptively from where we made our own submissions on female entrepreneurship in Nigeria. The study recommends delaying age at marriage and completing at least secondary education by all girls in order to increase women entrepreneurship and reduce poverty among Nigerian women