Alternative capital and women entrepreneurs: navigating Africa’s financial markets

There are dozens of studies on business financing issues for women entrepreneurs, but little research has been done on their counteractions. Using hybrid literature that integrates social feminism, women entrepreneurship, and business financing studies, this research develops theoretical explanations depicting the way Nigerian women entrepreneurs tackled financial access inequalities. Utilizing data from sixteen (16) Nigerian women entrepreneurs, the research focused on the interplay between socio–cultural forces and women entrepreneurship financing. The Gioia methodology was utilized to enhance rigor in data analysis. These results confirm that, while male entrepreneurs used their connections to build multiple ties that yielded quicker loan approval rates and international investment funding, women entrepreneurs were forced to use their local financing models that were informal to fund their ventures. Based on their own stories, it is apparent that women entrepreneurs face both legislative constraints and societal gender stereotypes that hinder their ability to gain support from formal financial institutions. The study spotlights a new understanding of non–traditional models of financing women’s entrepreneurship and uncovers a contextualized entrepreneurship process and urges policy reforms to promote entrepreneurship in patriarchal societies.