Digital Inclusion and Economic Empowerment of Women Entrepreneurs in Kassala State: Overcoming Barriers to Resilience and Growth

The study examines how digital inclusion shapes the economic empowerment and resilience of women entrepreneurs in Kassala State, Eastern Sudan, using a mixed‑methods design that combines SLMPS 2022 survey analysis with interviews and focus groups. Grounded in a technological capability and inclusive innovation framework, it conceptualizes digital inclusion as meaningful, safe use of technologies for enterprise functions rather than simple access, and constructs a Women’s Economic Empowerment Index (WEEI) to capture empowerment attitudes. Quantitative findings show that education and household wealth are positively associated with empowerment, while age and marriage correlate negatively, and that basic digital access indicators are not robust predictors of empowerment, suggesting that technology alone is insufficient in the absence of key conversion factors such as skills, affordability, and institutional support. Qualitative evidence explains these patterns by revealing widespread “ownership without business use”, with women constrained by high data and device costs; unreliable electricity and connectivity; low digital skills; and gendered norms and reputational fears that limit public-facing online activity, leading them to rely mainly on low-barrier platforms like WhatsApp and Facebook. The study concludes that digital inclusion contributes to women’s economic empowerment in Kassala only conditionally, depending on the interaction between access, individual capabilities, and enabling ecosystem factors, and argues that policy and programme interventions must move beyond access metrics to address these structural and normative constraints.