Women Entrepreneurship Development During COVID-19 Pandemic

Little research attention has been drawn to the negative versus positive effects of the novel COVID-19 pandemic on women-led enterprises. The Nigerian context that focuses on women of the most renowned entrepreneurial ethnic group in Sub-Saharan Africa has not been explored in the academic literature. This study explores the perceived effects of the novel COVID-19 pandemic on women entrepreneurship development in Nigeria by focusing on Igbo women entrepreneurs. A qualitative survey involving in-depth interviews of 28 nascent and established Igbo women entrepreneurs was conducted.  Leveraging the Framing Effect Theory, thematic analysis was performed on the collected data. Findings indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic had both negative (loss of revenues, difficulty in repaying ongoing loans, damage of goods in the store, and inability to meet set growth targets) and positive (innovativeness, entrepreneurship opportunities, fulfilling entrepreneurship ambition, and digitization of entrepreneurship) effects on Igbo women-owned enterprises in Southeast Nigeria. However, contrary to previous research, nascent entrepreneurs are more positively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic than experienced/established entrepreneurs. The study, thus, contributes to theory and practice by providing insightful directions for policymaking on women entrepreneurship development during economic crisis.