INFLUENCE OF FINANCIAL INCLUSION AND SOCIAL INCLUSION ON THE PERFORMANCE OF WOMEN - OWNED BUSINESSES IN LAGOS STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Recognising the indispensable role of women owned enterprises in general economic development, the government of Nigeria have offered support to the development of women owned enterprises through financial intermediary, infrastructures and policy measures. Despite of these indicators, the state of micro entrepreneurship has yet to reach a satisfactory level and women enterprises continue to lag behind that of their male counterparts. This study therefore investigated the influence of financial inclusion and social inclusion on the Performance of Women - Owned Businesses in Lagos State, Nigeria. The population of this study comprised all four thousand six thousand sixty three (4,663) women-owned Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) registered with SMEDAN while three hundred and fifty seven (357) were selected as a sample size for the study. The data collection instruments for the study were structured questionnaire and personal interview. Data were analyzed with the aid of Multiple Regression (Ordinary Least Square Estimation) and Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient. Results showed that financial inclusion and social inclusion have positive and significant influence on women–owned businesses performance. Additionally, financial inclusion and social inclusion jointly contribute about 42.9% to the performance of women –owned businesses. Results also indicated that social inclusion (r = 0. 543**) is positively and significantly related with the financial inclusion. The therefore recommended that government should have a policy in place through its financial regulator to encourage financial institutions to diversify their branch networks in the country and government should also have policies and regulatory frameworks in place that will close the gender gap in financial inclusion and social inclusion.