IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jintdv/v18y2006i8p1051-1064.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Women entrepreneurs in the Gambia: challenges and opportunities

Author

Listed:
  • Marina Della-Giusta

    (University of Reading School of Business, Whiteknights, UK)

  • Christine Phillips

    (University of Reading School of Business, Whiteknights, UK)

Abstract

This article reviews the literature on women entrepreneurs in developing countries and presents evidence from a case study undertaken during 2001 and 2002 in Gambia examining the challenges facing women entrepreneurs in the small enterprise sector. The article attempt to discuss the gendered nature of the barriers to survival and growth, particularly the low productivity of sectors in which women entrepreneurs operate, the difficulty in accessing capital for expansion and the need to reconcile business with domestic activities and the propensity to view business as part of an overall livelihood diversification strategy. The article argues that further to addressing specific gender needs of women entrepreneurs, policy and support mechanisms must be sensitive to and geared towards both enterprises with potential and aspirations for growth and diversification and those whose primary objective is that of sustaining livelihoods. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Suggested Citation

  • Marina Della-Giusta & Christine Phillips, 2006. "Women entrepreneurs in the Gambia: challenges and opportunities," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 18(8), pages 1051-1064.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:18:y:2006:i:8:p:1051-1064
    DOI: 10.1002/jid.1279
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1002/jid.1279
    File Function: Link to full text; subscription required
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/jid.1279?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Evers, Barbara & Walters, Bernard, 2000. "Extra-Household Factors and Women Farmers' Supply Response in Sub-Saharan Africa," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(7), pages 1341-1345, July.
    2. Mead, Donald C. & Liedholm, Carl, 1998. "The dynamics of micro and small enterprises in developing countries," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 61-74, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Jim Secka & Joanna Wisniewska & Katarzyna Szopik-Depczynska, 2023. "Women in Business-Prospects of SMEs in Gambia," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(1), pages 121-131.
    2. Poornima Gayangani Wasana Jayawardana Author_Email: poorja08@apu.ac.jp, japgwj@gmail.com, 2011. "Capabilities Of Rural Credit In Entrepreneurship Development Among Women: A Sri Lankan Perspective," Annual Summit on Business and Entrepreneurial Studies (ASBES 2011) Proceeding 2011-031-189, Conference Master Resources.
    3. Saskia Vossenberg, 2013. "Women Entrepreneurship Promotion in Developing Countries: What explains the gender gap in entrepreneurship and how to close it?," Working Papers 2013/08, Maastricht School of Management.
    4. Christine Phillips & Seema Bhatia-Panthaki, 2007. "Enterprise development in Zambia: reflections on the missing middle," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(6), pages 793-804.
    5. Punita Bhatt & Supriya Garikipati, 2020. "Feminist Ideologies at Work: Culture, Collectivism and Entrepreneurship among Poor Women in India," Working Papers 202014, University of Liverpool, Department of Economics.
    6. Maria Costanza Torri & Andrea Martinez, 2014. "Women’s empowerment and micro-entrepreneurship in India: Constructing a new development paradigm?," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 14(1), pages 31-48, January.
    7. Hundera, Mulu, 2019. "Role conflict, coping strategies and female entrepreneurial success in sub-Saharan Africa," Other publications TiSEM 3e263b0c-3bf3-474a-8a20-b, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    8. Golda Anambane & Kwame Adom, 2018. "Assessing The Role Of Culture In Female Entrepreneurship In Contemporary Sub-Saharan Society: Insights From The Nabadam District Of Ghana," Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship (JDE), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 23(03), pages 1-26, September.
    9. Ojong, Nathanael & Simba, Amon & Dana, Leo-Paul, 2021. "Female entrepreneurship in Africa: A review, trends, and future research directions," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 233-248.
    10. Ramani, Shyama V. & Thutupalli, Ajay & Medovarski, Tamas & Chattopadhyay, Sutapa & Ravichandran, Veena, 2013. "Women entrepreneurs in the informal economy: Is formalization the only solution for business sustainability?," MERIT Working Papers 2013-018, United Nations University - Maastricht Economic and Social Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Rao, Nitya, 2017. "Assets, Agency and Legitimacy: Towards a Relational Understanding of Gender Equality Policy and Practice," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 43-54.
    2. Jolanda Hessels & Peter van der Zwan, 2011. "Entrepreneurial exit, ability and engagement across countries in different stages of development," Scales Research Reports H201116, EIM Business and Policy Research.
    3. Blessing Atwine & Ibrahim Mike Okumu & John Bosco Nnyanzi, 2023. "What drives the dynamics of employment growth in firms? Evidence from East Africa," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-25, December.
    4. Francesco Quatraro & Marco Vivarelli, 2015. "Drivers of Entrepreneurship and Post-entry Performance of Newborn Firms in Developing Countries," The World Bank Research Observer, World Bank, vol. 30(2), pages 277-305.
    5. Kweka, Josaphat & Fox, Louise, 2011. "The household enterprise sector in Tanzania : why it matters and who cares," Policy Research Working Paper Series 5882, The World Bank.
    6. Ilmiawan Auwalin, 2021. "The effect of a credit policy change on microenterprise upward transition and growth: evidence from Indonesia," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 11(4), pages 611-636, December.
    7. John Victor Mensah & Michael Tribe & John Weiss, 2007. "The small-scale manufacturing sector in Ghana: a source of dynamism or of subsistence income?," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(2), pages 253-273.
    8. Jonathan Fu & Annette Krauss, 2024. "Preparing fertile ground: how does the quality of business environments affect MSE growth?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 63(1), pages 51-103, June.
    9. Folorunsho M. Ajide & James T. Dada, 2023. "Poverty, entrepreneurship, and economic growth in Africa," Poverty & Public Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(2), pages 199-226, June.
    10. Vial, Virginie & Hanoteau, Julien, 2015. "Returns to Micro-Entrepreneurship in an Emerging Economy: A Quantile Study of Entrepreneurial Indonesian Households’ Welfare," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 142-157.
    11. World Bank Group, 2015. "Tanzania Mainland Poverty Assessment," World Bank Publications - Reports 22021, The World Bank Group.
    12. Lay, Jann & Golan, Jennifer, 2009. "The Impact of Agricultural Market Liberalisation from a Gender Perspective: Evidence from Uganda," Open Access Publications from Kiel Institute for the World Economy 39944, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    13. Jian Zhang & Linxiu Zhang & Scott Rozelle & Steve Boucher, 2006. "Self‐Employment With Chinese Characteristics: The Forgotten Engine Of Rural China'S Growth," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 24(3), pages 446-458, July.
    14. Fardous Alom & Moha Asri Abdullah & Abdul Rashid Moten & S. M. Ferdous Azam, 2016. "Success factors of overall improvement of microenterprises in Malaysia: an empirical study," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 6(1), pages 1-13, December.
    15. Wood, Matthew S. & Bradley, Steven W. & Artz, Kendall, 2015. "Roots, reasons, and resources: Situated optimism and firm growth in subsistence economies," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 127-136.
    16. Tidiane Kinda & Josef Loening, 2010. "Small Enterprise Growth and the Rural Investment Climate: Evidence from Tanzania," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 22(1), pages 173-207.
    17. Wolday Amha, 2016. "Growth of Youth-owned MSEs in Ethiopia: Characteristics, Determinants and Challenges," Ethiopian Journal of Economics, Ethiopian Economics Association, vol. 24(2), August.
    18. Imelda T. Angeles & Ma. Socorro P. Calara & Allan B. Guzman, 2019. "The mediating effect of microfinancing on access to finance and growth of microenterprises: evidence from the Philippines," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 9(1), pages 1-16, December.
    19. Faisal Buyinza & John Mutenyo & Anthony Tibaingana, 2018. "Factors Affecting Access to Formal Credit by Micro and Small Enterprises in Uganda," Athens Journal of Business & Economics, Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER), vol. 4(4), pages 405-424, October.
    20. Mellor, John W. & Dorosh, Paul A., 2010. "Agriculture and the economic transformation of Ethiopia," ESSP working papers 10, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:jintdv:v:18:y:2006:i:8:p:1051-1064. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/5102/home .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.