FINTECH: A STRATEGIC ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT TOOL FOR WOMEN IN KWALE, DELTA STATE, NIGERIA

The study examined the power of female entrepreneurship through the use of a financial technology, or FinTech, in Kwale, Delta State, Nigeria. It evaluated the impact of FinTech on the capacity of women-led micro, small, and, medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) to access credit, insurance and savings. It further examined how FinTech can provide women in semi-urban and rural settings with easy-to-use financial services that could help them overcome the challenges of collateral, digital illiteracy, and a low availability of financial services. A Likert scale structured questionnaire based on 4 points rating was used to collect data on 384 female entrepreneurs. The analysis of simple linear regression was done using SPSS ver. 27. The results indicated that FinTech has a positive and statistically significant effect on access to credit (p=0.000) and savings (p=0.000) but did not affect insurances in an equally favorable way (p=0.083). Findings from this study showed that FinTech offered the effective tools that could support financial inclusion especially online lending and savings. However, the study highlighted the need for FinTech insurance products uniquely tailored to the needs of female entrepreneurs resident in Kwale. The study suggested the development of bespoke and affordable insurance products to maximize the benefits of Fintech solutions, indicating that FinTech firms should work with insurance companies to provide insurance products that could be more suitable to the needs of women entrepreneurs. The study therefore recommended the establishment of laws and policies aimed at enhancing the financial education and digital literacy of women in business/entrepreneurship.