Challenges Facing Women-Owned Small and Medium Enterprises (SMES) in Lafia Metropolis, Nasarawa State: A Theoretical Perspective

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) owned by women have become an increasingly visible feature of the economic landscape of Lafia metropolis, the administrative capital of Nasarawa State, Nigeria, yet their growth continues to be constrained by an interlocking set of financial, cultural, structural, and institutional obstacles. This paper is a theoretical review that draws together conceptual and empirical literature on women's entrepreneurship in Nigeria and situates it within the specific socio-economic realities of Lafia. Anchored on the Liberal Feminist Theory, the Resource-Based View, and Social Capital Theory, the paper argues that the difficulties women entrepreneurs face in Lafia are not simply a matter of individual capability but are produced by unequal access to productive resources, restrictive gender norms, weak institutional support, and thin social networks. The review identifies limited access to finance and credit, socio-cultural and patriarchal expectations, multiple taxation and weak regulatory support, poor infrastructure, work-family role conflict, restricted market access, low technical and managerial capacity, and insecurity as the dominant challenges reported in the literature and reflected in the Lafia context. The paper concludes that addressing these challenges requires coordinated action from government agencies, financial institutions, and community structures, and it proposes directions for future empirical research and policy intervention that could improve the survival and growth of women-owned SMEs in the metropolis.