By Alusine S. Kargbo

Entrepreneurship in Sierra Leone over the years has been greatly dominated by women as compared to decades ago. The proliferation of women into the practice remains pervasive both in small- and large-scale businesses. Despite the great vision and resilient efforts put up by women in the practice, women entrepreneurs continue to face diverse challenges. These challenges serve as major barriers limiting their business practices of entrepreneurship in Sierra Leone. Among the several challenges, some of the major challenges faced by women entrepreneurs include: Access to sales points and desired business items, Low Capital, Loan conditionalities, Low literacy level and business education and the challenge to navigate the dual roles of managing the home and their businesses.

The challenges of Access to sales point and desired business is significantly limiting women entrepreneurs daily business operations. These challenges range from access to business centres which emanate from transportation crisis, inadequate business facilities etc. and getting the desired goods that customers demand for at a price that will suit consumers buying abilities. Diverse comments made by women entrepreneurs within Freetown and Lungi emphasizes the constraints they face due to transportation crisis both in normal circumstances and in the times of emergency. Business women in lungi made complaints about the time inconsistency and sometimes the unavailability of the ferries in most cases when they need to cross the River Rokel to Freetown for business purposes. They lament about the huge time they had to waste before reaching their destination and sometimes the risk they took to board transportation boats (Pampa/speed boats) either for make shift reasons or for fast and easy traveling to Freetown to get the goods and services they need within the desired time. They said they had to face these challenges due to unavailability of whole goods sellers and manufacturers in the Lungi township and the unavailability of another route that will be less time consuming. They couldn’t get better options unless they have to travel to Freetown to get the goods they trade in or those that their customers demand. Women entrepreneurs within Freetown, especially does coming from the east, some parts of the west, and the far end of Waterloo raised huge concerns about the transportation difficulties they face in their various locations to access the central business area in the morning and getting back to their various destinations in the early and late evening hours on a daily basis. Sometimes these women had to pay excessive transportation fare due to the unavailability of vehicles reaching their destinations at the time. And even those in locations reached by vehicles almost always finds it difficult to catch up with vehicles easily. Several times, these women pay huge amount of transportation fares to access the Central business areas to get their demand goods, but at times they ended up going back to their homes without getting what they went for. The fight amongst business women for goods and transportation is an aside, as it almost considered as a routine practice amongst themselves on a daily basis. Sometimes they had to fight with men and children in their quest to get vehicles leading their location. Revenue and rent collectors also stand tall amidst these other several challenges.

Low capital is a challenge that has affected and is still affecting the business scale of women entrepreneurs in Sierra Leone. Lack of sufficient capital to establish big businesses has led many women into petty street trading despite the long distances that many of them cover per day to reach their business locations. The estimated total capital of many of these women street petty traders that many of them mentioned fall below the maximum of hundred dollars ($100) considering the current level of exchange. These women depend wholly on their little business capital for their welfare and upkeep; thus, they couldn’t save nothing substantial from the little profit they made sometimes from their business activities to at least boost their business capital. This has led many women into getting loans which conditions couldn’t match their business abilities. Some women have to drop out of their original business operations due to deficit and sometimes due to the growing stands of exchange, which is the greatest determiner of the prices of goods in the country, to adopt other businesses that fits their available capital or sometimes flee the course of business to adopt other practices unwillingly. The efforts of micro financial institutions have made huge contributions into changing this scenario, but several obstacles still exist.

Loan conditionalities is another significant challenge that is affecting both large- and small-scale women entrepreneurs. Many women fell short on loan capital due to the conditions of loans given to them. These conditions range from high interest rates demanded by micro finance institutions, amount routine payment schedules etc. Local product women traders within Dovecot in Freetown and Rotifunk market in Lungi comment on the huge sum they pay on weekly basis amidst the time most of them are spending in the provinces to buy and transport their good. Most times, to avoid falling short of payment conditions, these women have to leave behind a portion of the little capital they have loan for weekly payment purpose and travel with the rest to the provinces to buy local commodities. Many a time, these women have to cumulate other debts from farmers or sellers of local products since they couldn’t afford to pay in full for the commodities. And this gave them a double burden of loans considering they have to pay their micro finance weekly debts and the farmers they owe. In many cases, many women who e fall victims of loan ended up fleeing from business and their homes base on the penalties associated with their offence.

Low literacy level and business education is the key challenge that most times trigger the first two challenges. Many women jump into business without having any clue about how those businesses operate and what is needed to operate such businesses. Since most of these women were not literate, proper business planning and implementation remains a critical challenge in their business operations. Micro finance institutions sometimes took advantage of the literacy level of these women by imposing huge interests on them and letting them sign to risky conditions since they couldn’t read. Many women that delve into business lack vocational and formal business training, thus couldn’t navigate through the practice effectively.

In the typical Sierra Leone home setting, women are charged with responsibility of handling all domestic activities. A greater percentage of these women are involved into business activities. Navigating the double roles of taking care of the homes and business activities is a serious challenge for many women entrepreneurs. In most cases, some women have to give up the matrimony in their homes to continue with their business activities, since the home depends on the income made from the business to survive. Some women entrepreneurs, especially single parents find it difficult to take care of their children amidst the diverse business activities they have to embark on a daily basis. Hold on to the double taxes is extremely difficult for women entrepreneurs and most times resorted into mismanaging the one whilst trying to upkeep the other.

Market women in Sierra Leone are breaking grounds with their resilient effort to ensure gender balanced operations in the country, but they continue to face serious challenges despite the several efforts made. These challenges are greatly limiting their abilities, thus seek for support and relevant interventions to aid their operations effectively.