Women Entrepreneurship and Socio-Economic Development in Delta and Edo State

The aim of this study is to examine the relationships between women entrepreneurship and socioeconomic development of Delta and Edo States with government policies. In the bid to achieve the objective, the study adopted a cross sectional survey research design. The population of the study comprises of 456 female-owned restaurants in Edo and Delta State, Nigeria. Sample size of 213 female-owned restaurants was sampled for the study. The study designs a structured questionnaire to collect data from the respondents on women entrepreneurship and socio-economic development. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used in analyzing data. Descriptive statistics involves the computation of frequency distribution, mean, and standard deviation. Multiple regression analysis was chosen because it is best suited to test the relative effect of the independent variables on the dependent variable. The study finds that: there is significant relationship between entrepreneurial financing and socio-economic development of people in Delta and Edo States. There is significant relationship between networking and socio-economic development of women entrepreneurs. There is significant relationship between business environment and socio-economic development of women entrepreneurs. There is significant relationship between training and socio-economic development of women entrepreneurs. The study concluded that social factors such as good network with outsiders, availability of fund, favorable business environment and training and development of women entrepreneurs influences women entrepreneurs’ business startup, expansion and leads to economic development and social advancement. Government should ensure favourable business environment that enhance women entrepreneurs’