Effect Of Institutional Support on Women Entreprenuership Success in Edo State, Nigeria

Women entrepreneurship has increasingly been recognized as a catalyst for economic growth, innovation, and social development, particularly within emerging economies. However, the extent to which institutional support contributes to the success of women-owned enterprises remains an important area of inquiry. This study investigates the effect of institutional support on women entrepreneurship success in Edo State, Nigeria. Adopting a descriptive survey research design, data were collected through a structured questionnaire administered to women-owned SMEs across local government areas in the state. The study population comprised registered and unregistered women entrepreneurs, with a representative sample determined using Cochran’s formula. Stratified random sampling ensured fair representation across strata. Three hypotheses were tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) to evaluate the relationships between proxies of institutional support: access to finance, training, policy incentives and women entrepreneurship success. The findings reveal that training and policy incentives exert positive and statistically significant effects on entrepreneurial success, while access to finance shows no statistically significant effect. Based on these results, the study recommends that women entrepreneurs take advantage of capacity-building initiatives to strengthen managerial and technical skills, while governments and support institutions should prioritize targeted policy incentives and supportive frameworks to enhance the performance and sustainability of women-owned enterprises.