The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), in its latest study on structure and ownership of select businesses in Nigeria, reported that 40% of such enterprises were owned by women while 12% were co-owned by a man and a woman, leaving a balance of 48% as men-owned enterprises.
The Bureau gave these figures in its just published ‘Small Firm Diaries 2022’, which was launched on July 27 this year in Abuja and immediately posted on its website.
The statistics agency indicated that the data collection for the study, which was conducted in three sites in Enugu, Kaduna, and Lagos, commenced in August 2021 and was completed in August 2022.
The Bureau stated that in each site, it selected low-income communities, conducted censuses of firms, and selected firms to participate to meet the study’s goals in terms of size, industry and ownership.
It further disclosed that it recruited 200 firms to participate in the study from three research sites and that the final sample contained 161 firms, which were roughly evenly spread across the research sites.
The Bureau clarified that in conducting the study, it was difficult to have a consistent and objective definition of firm ownership and consequently the study allowed participants to self-define the owner of the firm.
The NBS further clarified: “Based on the self-description, 40% of the firms are owned by women (the study protocol set a floor of 30% of firms with a female owner, and in Nigeria we achieved this and more), and 12% are co-owned by a man and a woman; the remaining 48% of firms are owned by men.
“The study was limited to firms in three industries: light manufacturing, agri-processing, and services. In the Nigerian sample, about 40% of the firms are engaged in light manufacturing (e.g. carpentry, metal works, and garment production); 34% in services (e.g. printing, household services, and private schools); and 25% in agri-processing (e.g. livestock, animal feed production, and milling)”, it added.
According to the statistics agency, the study showed that the average annual revenue for MSMEs in Nigeria stood at N2.3 million while the operating margin is N768,000.
When the revenue is analyzed on month-on-month basis, the NBS’ study indicated that 62% of MSMEs had a monthly revenue lower than N300,000 while 47% reported that they earned a monthly revenue lower than N200,000.
The study’s findings further revealed that 97% of MSMEs in Nigeria had a bank account but less than 50% used it regularly. Out of these numbers, around 47% of MSMEs owned by men took loans to support their business while 45% of female-owned MSMEs used credit facilities.
On the level of digital financial services (DFS) adoption by the MSMEs, the ‘Small Firm Diaries’ study showed that over 80% claimed to own a debit card, 65% made use of mobile banking services and 56% claimed to use POS machines.
However, the study indicated that only 5% of MSME owners in Nigeria had used a credit card.
