Navigating Sustainable Development: A Qualitative Study of Women-Led Enterprises in Niger (2005–2025)

This qualitative study investigates how women-led enterprises in Niger conceptualise and operationalise sustainable development within their business practices, addressing a critical gap in the literature on African entrepreneurship. While women entrepreneurs are acknowledged as key development agents, scant research examines how they integrate commercial and socio-environmental imperatives in fragile contexts. Employing a phenomenological methodology, the research conducted in-depth, semi-structured interviews with twenty-four founders and senior managers of women-led enterprises across Niamey, Maradi, and Zinder between 2018 and 2023. A rigorous thematic analysis of the data was performed. Findings reveal that participants perceive sustainable development not as an external framework but as an intrinsic, culturally-grounded philosophy of ‘responsible enterprise’. Their strategies are deeply embedded in local realities, prioritising community resilience through inclusive employment, local sourcing, and adaptive environmental stewardship, often preceding formal profit maximisation. The study contends that these enterprises enact a distinctive, context-driven model of sustainable business which challenges conventional, Western-centric paradigms. This research contributes to scholarship on women’s leadership in Africa by demonstrating how Nigerien women entrepreneurs are active agents in redefining development pathways. It concludes that policy and support mechanisms must be reconfigured to recognise and strengthen these indigenous, holistic approaches to foster genuinely sustainable economic growth in the Sahel.