Women Entrepreneurs in Tourism: A Study of Abeokuta, Ogun State

Abstract

The aim of this study is to survey the female entrepreneurs in tourism, analyze the role of women in tourism business in the economy and to recognize the challenges to their entrepreneurial advancement. Descriptive survey design was adopted and the study employed both primary and secondary data. The primary data was obtained with questionnaire, structured in a way that consists four segments: (a) demographic data of the respondents (b) respondent dominant part of tourism related business (c) business challenges, expectations, management (d) factors that influence their choice of business. The questionnaire was administered on 100 women entrepreneurs in Abeokuta, Nigeria. To reduce the number of survey statements, the 5-points Likert scale was employed with assigned number. The challenges the women entrepreneur faces, identified by this research, include inadequacy of fund for business expansion, non-availability of marketing, taxation, nonstandard business location and low patronage, This research recommends business skills training for the women entrepreneurs by the tourism related initiatives such as the localities and NGO and involvement of local media and participation in both local and national exhibition such as World Tourism Day for the publicity of their businesses.