Les motivations des femmes entrepreneures du secteur informel à Dakar (Sénégal)[The motivations of women entrepreneurs in the informal sector in Dakar (Senegal)]

In developing countries and particular in Senegal the majority of women are poor. Microenterprises created by a part of these women, especially in the informal sector, qualitatively improve their lives and those of their families and arouse increasingly growing interest for public authorities. In Senegal, where the informal sector is an important part of the economy, few researchers were interested in the factors which are likely to push women entrepreneurship in this sector. Based on the data from a field survey we conducted among 107 women entrepreneurs in the informal sector of the area of Dakar, this article attempts to verify if the entrepreneurial choices of these women is linked to socio-cultural factors, economic and / or noneconomic factors using a principal component analysis of motivational factors. Our results are rather surprising and highlight the complexity of the motivational phenomenon. Women rather undertake to satisfy their desire to participate in the welfare of their community.