IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/ibn/ijbmjn/v21y2026i1p26.html

Empowering Rural Women Entrepreneurs: The contribution of Informal Support Structures to Enterprise Performance in Côte d’Ivoire

Author

Listed:
  • Soro Pehouolossin
  • Ewool Celestin Koffi

Abstract

In many developing economies, particularly in Sub-Saharan Africa, formal entrepreneurial support systems remain scarce or inaccessible to women entrepreneurs. Consequently, these women rely on informal family, professional, community and financial networks to mitigate economic and organizational constraints. This study investigates the influence of informal support structures (ISS) on the performance of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) owned by women in rural Côte d’Ivoire. Adopting a hypothetico-deductive framework grounded in adapted positivism, the research employed mixed-methods design combining semi-structured interviews and a quantitative survey of 371 rural women entrepreneurs. Both qualitative and quantitative analyses confirm that informal mechanisms, particularly family networks, professional relationship, rotating savings groups (tontines) and Village Savings and credit associations (VSCAs), exert a positive and statistically significant effect on enterprise performance. The study further reveals that these informal structures contribute not only to economic performance (growth, profitability, reinvestment) but also to personal performance, expressed through empowerment, autonomy and family well-being. The results underscore the strategic and complementary role of informal mechanisms in fostering women’s entrepreneurship, especially in resource-constrained rural contexts. The paper recommends that publics policies and development programs formally recognize, support and integrate these indigenous support systems as levers of inclusive and sustainable local development.

Suggested Citation

  • Soro Pehouolossin & Ewool Celestin Koffi, 2026. "Empowering Rural Women Entrepreneurs: The contribution of Informal Support Structures to Enterprise Performance in Côte d’Ivoire," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 21(1), pages 1-26, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:ibn:ijbmjn:v:21:y:2026:i:1:p:26
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ijbm/article/download/0/0/52639/57344
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/ijbm/article/view/0/52639
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. A. Jolibert & M.-L. Gavard-Perret, 2012. "Méthodologie de la recherche en sciences de gestion : réussir son mémoire ou sa thèse," Post-Print halshs-00834052, HAL.
    2. Sylvie Sammut, 2001. "Processus de démarrage en petite entreprise : système de gestion et scénarios," Revue de l'Entrepreneuriat, De Boeck Université, vol. 1(1), pages 61-76.
    3. Martine Hlady Rispal & Estèle Jouison-Laffitte, 2015. "La contribution des méthodes qualitatives au développement du champ de l’entrepreneuriat," Revue de l'Entrepreneuriat, De Boeck Université, vol. 14(1), pages 15-40.
    4. Masakure, Oliver & Cranfield, John & Henson, Spencer, 2008. "The Financial Performance of Non-farm Microenterprises in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 2733-2762, December.
    5. Martine Hlady-Rispal & Estele Jouison, 2015. "La contribution des méthodes qualitatives au développement du champ de l’entrepreneuriat," Post-Print hal-03266734, HAL.
    6. Birley, Sue, 1985. "The role of networks in the entrepreneurial process," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 107-117.
    7. Krishna, Anirudh, 2001. "Moving from the Stock of Social Capital to the Flow of Benefits: The Role of Agency," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 925-943, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Christel Vivel, 2025. "The capitalist entrepreneur and the entrepreneurial process [L'entrepreneur capitaliste et le processus entrepreneurial]," Post-Print hal-05496081, HAL.
    2. T. K. Das & Bing-Sheng Teng, 1998. "Time and Entrepreneurial Risk Behavior," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 22(2), pages 69-88, January.
    3. Françoise Bastié & Sylvie Cieply & Pascal Cussy, 2013. "The entrepreneur’s mode of entry: the effect of social and financial capital," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(4), pages 865-877, May.
    4. Enrico Santarelli & Hien Tran, 2013. "The interplay of human and social capital in shaping entrepreneurial performance: the case of Vietnam," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 435-458, February.
    5. Lerner, Miri & Brush, Candida & Hisrich, Robert, 1997. "Israeli women entrepreneurs: An examination of factors affecting performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 315-339, July.
    6. Lenore Newman & Ann Dale, 2007. "Homophily and Agency: Creating Effective Sustainable Development Networks," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 9(1), pages 79-90, February.
    7. Agampodi, Thilini Chanchala & Agampodi, Suneth Buddhika & Glozier, Nicholas & Siribaddana, Sisira, 2015. "Measurement of social capital in relation to health in low and middle income countries (LMIC): A systematic review," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 95-104.
    8. Watson, John, 2007. "Modeling the relationship between networking and firm performance," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 22(6), pages 852-874, November.
    9. Francesco Schiavone, 2004. "Divison Of Labour, Social Networks And Intangible Resources: The Italian Case Of Network Business Creation," Industrial Organization 0405005, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Nicola Banks, 2016. "Livelihoods Limitations: The Political Economy of Urban Poverty in Dhaka, Bangladesh," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 47(2), pages 266-292, March.
    11. Per Davidsson, 2023. "Making contributions: personal reflections from the co-creative evolution of entrepreneurship research," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 61(4), pages 1391-1410, December.
    12. Eduardo Manuel de Almeida Leite & David Audretsch & Ana Leite, 2024. "Redefining Entrepreneurship: Philosophical Insights in a Post-individualist Era," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 33(2), pages 239-267, May.
    13. Hervas-Oliver, Jose-Luis & Lleo, María & Cervello, Roberto, 2017. "The dynamics of cluster entrepreneurship: Knowledge legacy from parents or agglomeration effects? The case of the Castellon ceramic tile district," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 73-92.
    14. Fritsch, Michael & Falck, Oliver, . "New firm formation by industry over space and time: a multi-level analysis for Germany," Chapters in Economics,, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    15. Harry Anthony Patrinos & Emmanuel Skoufias, 2007. "Economic Opportunities for Indigenous Peoples in Latin America : Conference Edition," World Bank Publications - Reports 8019, The World Bank Group.
    16. Anass Arbia & Khalid Sobhi & Mohamedou Karim & Mohammed Eddaou, 2023. "FDI, Information and Communication Technology, and Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence from Morocco," Post-Print hal-04207179, HAL.
    17. Rice, Mark P., 2002. "Co-production of business assistance in business incubators: an exploratory study," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 163-187, March.
    18. Parhi Smita & Sriram M S, 2004. "Financial Status of Rural Poor: A Study in Udaipur District," IIMA Working Papers WP2004-02-01, Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, Research and Publication Department.
    19. Kim Klyver & Pia Arenius, 2022. "Networking, Social Skills and Launching a New Business: A 3-Year Study of Nascent Entrepreneurs," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 46(5), pages 1256-1283, September.
    20. Marie-Goreth Nduwayo & Michel Sayumwe, 2018. "Analysis of the Profile of non-profit Organizations Receiving Funding by a Microfinance Institution: the Case of Burundi," Business and Economic Research, Macrothink Institute, vol. 8(3), pages 74-91, September.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • Z0 - Other Special Topics - - General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ibn:ijbmjn:v:21:y:2026:i:1:p:26. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Canadian Center of Science and Education (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/cepflch.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.