Integration of information and communication technology into women entrepreneurship in Uyo, Nigeria

Abstract

Globally, entrepreneurship has steadily become the leading trend associated with growth regionally as well as nationally. It has lent itself to the significant and sustainable development of locally available resources and of human and social capital. More so, the establishment of microenterprises, together with small and medium scale businesses by women, is the most recognizable route to job creation, poverty alleviation, family well-being and women empowerment; apart from the social benefits accrued and direct impact to the community and environment. Unfortunately, despite the substantial resources invested by national and regional governments, international development organizations and other stakeholders for the enhancement of women entrepreneurship, several constraints still prevent women from attaining optimal performance in terms of business growth, annual turnover, and market capitalization. The use of information and communications technologies (ICT) has been suggested as another appropriate medium to assist with some of these challenges. A total number of 50 targeted female entrepreneurs in Uyo metropolis, Nigeria, were purposively sampled to take part in this study. Quantitative research design using semi-structured questionnaires was used to explore the influence of ICT on the entrepreneurial activities of female entrepreneurs. Descriptive and inferential statistics were adopted to interpret the primary data. Binary Logistics Regression resulted in Wald value =1.353 and p=.245, which is >> .05. The Wald chi-square test led to the rejection of the null hypothesis because of the p-value. Therefore, the leveraging of ICT tools did not have a significant effect on entrepreneurial activities among women entrepreneurs in the educational sector.