Islamic Finance As An Alternative Source Of Funding For Women Entrepreneurs In Sokoto State, Nigeria

Women entrepreneurship development has become essential to any economy which
strives to achieve growth and development, therefore financing for this sector has as
well become crucial in order to achieve the above stated objective. However in the
case where the financing strategies has not produce positive outcome, then there is
need for an alternative means of finance for the above stated sector. This study
therefore attempts to examine the potential of Islamic finance as an alternative
source of funding for women entrepreneurs in Sokoto. This paper is based largely on
academic research currently undertaken by the researcher on women entrepreneurs
in Sokoto state of Nigeria. This paper is a conceptual in nature in which analytical
method was employed based on previous literatures to explain the potentials and
importance of Islamic finance to the women entrepreneur’s business performance in
Sokoto state. The finding shows that finance remains a major impediment to women
entrepreneur’s business performance in Sokoto state. the study also find out that the
current mode of financing for business women in Sokoto such as personal savings
,family and friends , commercial banks , government , has not been able to produce
positive results in terms of their business performances, therefore there is a need for
an alternative source of founding. The study conclude that Islamic finance has a role
to play in financing women entrepreneurs in Sokoto through its micro finance
products such as Mudarabah, Musharakah, Murabahah, Ijarah, Wakalah etc. The
study also suggests that Islamic banks in Nigeria should take advantage of this Niche
area of women entrepreneurs and explore the opportunities untapped