Investment Environments and Performance of Young Women Entrepreneurs in Ekiti State

Abstract

In developing economies like Nigeria, young women entrepreneurs with innovative ideas are usually faced with stringent investment environments and if not addressed could lead to failure of such businesses. This study examined the influence of investment environment such as lack of access to finance, insecurity and electricity tariff hike on the performance of young women entrepreneurs in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Survey research technique was adopted with purposive administration of a structured questionnaire on young women entrepreneurs who had operated their enterprises for not more than five years. Three locations were chosen to represent the three Senatorial Districts of Ekiti State namely Ado-Ekiti, Ikere-Ekiti and Oye-Ekiti respectively. The population comprised four hundred registered young women entrepreneurs. The sample size of two hundred was determined through Yaro Yamane’s techniques with Bowley’s proportional allocation method used for distribution. Two hundred copies of the questionnaire were administered and one hundred and sixty-five were duly completed and returned. Five forms of enterprises were selected and data were analyzed using quantitative methods of percentages, frequency counts and Chi-square. The findings revealed that the investment environments viz lack of access to finance, X2 cal (279.2) > X2 tab (9.488), insecurity (crime, theft and disorder), X2 cal (374.23) > X2 tab (9.488); and high electricity tariff, X2 cal (447.84) > X2 tab (9.488) significantly hindered the effective performance of young women entrepreneurs. The study concluded that the challenges of young women entrepreneurs in Ekiti State were caused by harsh investment environment. It was recommended that the government should create a conducive investment environment for young women entrepreneurs.