Female entrepreneurship and financial literacy: the case of fruit merchants across the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince

Authors

Ciguino, Hubermane

Paul, Bénédique

Abstract

Women microentrepreneurs face challenges, particularly insufficient capital, gender discrimination, illiteracy, lack of knowledge, lack of training program, lack of management experience. They can be induced to make inappropriate, inadequate and ineffective financial decisions because of gaps in personal financial knowledge. As such, financial literacy is an important issue in the development of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) led by women. Financial advice is becoming an important element in the world, especially for countries in Latin America, the Caribbean and especially in Haiti, the poorest country in the region. Haitian entrepreneurship is dominated by the informal sector, which is mainly led by women and is not spared from financial literacy gaps. The objective of this research is to study the level of financial literacy of fruit merchants across the metropolitan area of Port-au-Prince and its impact on the financial performance of their microenterprises. The study is conducted among 106 microentrepreneurs, mostly women, commonly called "Madan Sara" through the arteries of Port-au-Prince, Delmas, Tabarre, Pétion-Ville and Kenscoff, considering their locations. from supply to the sale of fruit on display and itinerant. The data was processed and analyzed using R software. According to the results, women entrepreneurs who are clients of microfinance organizations have a higher level of financial literacy than others. The study also shows that financial literacy increases the financial performance of women-led microenterprises. Policies could be put in place to introduce both formal and informal financial education into training programs across the country. Improving the level of financial literacy has a positive impact on the mobilization of funds, which contributes to capital formation