Existentially challenged women entrepreneurs. Resilience to shocks affecting informal small-scale agrifood businesses in Benin

Summary

Women entrepreneurs leading agrifood businesses in the Global South face existential shocks regularly; they need to adopt strategies to be resilient against such shocks. This thesis addresses three interconnected aims: (1) to provide a comprehensive understanding of what shocks women entrepreneurs face, and evidence of their impact; (2) to identify resources and capabilities women entrepreneurs combine to innovate their business and overcome these shocks; and (3) to analyse the role of social networks in building business resilience. Combined, addressing these aims uncovers the conditions under which women entrepreneurs operate and the turbulent nature of their social and business contexts. The thesis provides an understanding of how women entrepreneurs build resilience for a variety of shocks that the literature so far has failed to address and contributes to the continuity, performance and profitability of women entrepreneurs despite the significant impact of the shocks they face.