Micro-credit for microenterprises?A study of women 'petty' traders in Eastern Nigeria

摘要

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that constrain women petty traders'rnaccess to microcredit, and the innovative measures they have initiated in order to counter thesernconstraints.rnDesign/methodology/approach - The paper is based on in-depth interviews with womenrnmicro-entrepreneurs drawn from a convenience sample of 20 petty traders in the market town ofrnAwka - the capital of a state in Eastern Nigeria.rnFindings - The paper identifies three main constraints - internal, socio-cultural and policyrninduced - as the key moderating influences on women petty traders' ability access to micro-credit.rnResearch limitations/implications - Considering the sample size and research context, therngeneralisation of the findings may need to be interpreted with caution. However, the paper findsrnevidence of most of these findings in other studies on other contexts.rnPractical implications - This paper posits that the lack of access to credit promotes marketrnexclusion, and deepens the socioeconomic and political vulnerability of women as a consequence. Suchrnvulnerability has prompted these microenterpreneurs into venturing to alternative sources of credit inrnthe form of "Women August Meetings". The paper has far reaching implications for public policyrnsupport geared towards "leveraging" and mainstreaming these initiatives for maximum outreach.rnOriginality/value - Previous research in the area of micro-credit access seem to have paid limitedrnattention to the peculiar challenges of this segment of society, i.e. petty traders, who incidentally alsornform the bulk of occupants at the bottom-of-the-pyramid.