Gender, remittances and household entrepreneurship: new perspectives from Malawi

Purpose – Although remittances are acknowledged as foreign capital for African nations, their potential to foster entrepreneurship is underestimated. This is particularly the case when accounting for gender dynamics in entrepreneurship, which are intricate, as evidenced by the varied challenges faced by female entrepreneurs in funding, ownership, and business scale. This paper examines the overlooked potential of remittances as a catalyst for entrepreneurship in an African context, specifically addressing gender-related gaps in entrepreneurial development by linking access to remittances to entrepreneurial activity. Design/methodology/approach – This paper employs the bivariate probit estimation technique on the fifth Malawi Integrated Household Survey 2019–2020 to examine the effect of gender and its interaction with remittances on entrepreneurial activity. Findings – The gendered analysis reveals that while female-headed households are less likely to engage in entrepreneurship, access to remittances enhances their likelihood of doing so compared with male-headed households. Practical implications – This finding highlights a pathway to better understand the dynamics of female entrepreneurship within the context of a developing economy and how remittances can support female entrepreneurs with additional capital to help foster their entrepreneurial pursuits. Originality/value – By providing empirical evidence on the beneficial effect of access to remittances, this study makes an important contribution in understanding the extent to which remittances aid in removing the social and economic barriers that restrict women's economic participation.