Gender Differences and the Influence of Education in Accessing Formal Funds by Small-Scale Entrepreneurs in Lagos State, Nigeria

Nigeria is a patriarchal society where gender inequality and stereotype exist in all sphere of life. This paper examines gender differentials in access to formal funding among males and females small-scale entrepreneurs in Lagos metropolis, Nigeria. To achieve the objective of the study, a triangulated research design was adopted which involves cross-sectional survey, in-depth interview and case study research methods. Findings of the study revealed significant gender differentials in access to formal funding among small-scale entrepreneurs. Specifically, there are array of socio-cultural factors that inhibit women from accessing formal funding compared with their male counterparts. Consequently, most of the female entrepreneurs lack required financial capital that can make their businesses grow beyond small-scale level. In addition, the qualitative data revealed that unequal access for formal funding makes women’s enterprises to be unlikely to survive beyond a given generation whereas men’s enterprises were able to survive several generations. However, a positive correlation was found between female entrepreneurs’ level of education and access to funds from formal sources. It has been recommended that girl-child education should be made compulsory in Nigeria in order to break cycle of poverty among women and make female entrepreneurs compete favourable within small-scale sub-sector of the economy.