A research by Facebook has shown that women who wish to establish their own businesses have the potential to boost Nigeria’s economy by N19.7 billion.

The study, conducted by Development Economics on behalf of Facebook, further showed that “if the number of women (about 44%) who said they were ‘very likely’ to start a business did so, this would create over 7 million new businesses within four years and over 8.9 million jobs within five years.”

According to the research, about 30% of women indicated a likely interest in setting up businesses in Food & Drink, 13% in Tourism & Leisure, 10% in Lifestyle while another 10% showed interest in Business Services.

The motivations for their wanting to set-up a business also varied, with financial gains topping the chat at 56%, followed by desire to create job opportunities for family or other people, 45%; those who want to work around family commitments, 40%,  and those wanting to be their own boss, 39%.

On the factors militating against women setting up businesses, the research gave lack of access to finance as the main barrier.

The research also showed that among those likely to start a business, 32% were not sure of how to get started, 30% were not feeling prepared or ready while 26% complained of lack of access to premises or equipment.

“These impact women at every stage of their life – with women 55+ being less likely to start a business followed by those between 35-44,” the research noted.

Reacting to the research outcome, Facebook SMS Sales Manager EMEA, Mr. Abi William, said, “Facebook recognises how important women are in building stable economies, and the potential impact of this in Nigeria is encouraging to see. We know that when women do better, economies do better, and with the right support, tools and trainings in place Nigerian women entrepreneurs can, and will be able to compete on a global level.”

The study also revealed that in terms of the use of online tools to facilitate the sale of products or services to potential customers, the proportion of female managers in Nigeria reporting the use of such tools was 83 per cent compared to 74 per cent for males, a slightly higher proportion of female business managers (39%) reported the use of online tools to enable customers to pay for products or services compared to 37% for males.