This text is part of the special Research section

By obtaining a grant from the Fonds de recherche du Québec for the first time, Yasmine Mohamed wishes to study the business model of women entrepreneurs who live in rural areas in Côte d’Ivoire. The professor from the University of Quebec in Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT) wants to better promote female entrepreneurship in West Africa.

With the approximately $56,000 received, M^me Mohamed will look at the business model of women producers of biochar and briquettes in the department of Bloléquin. Biochar is charcoal made from plant sources. It is used to improve the structure of the soil and the yield of crops, explains the one who is a professor of industrial relations at the Teaching and Research Unit in Management Sciences.

“We intend to study the business model of these women and determine their strengths and weaknesses,” summarizes the researcher. Thus, she hopes to build with these participants a business model that promotes their autonomy and, at the same time, promote female entrepreneurship in rural areas in West Africa.

The initiative will be carried out in collaboration with researchers and students from several universities, in Quebec and in Africa. M^me Mohamed will collaborate with people from McGill University, Institut national polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny and Nangui-Abrogoua University in Côte d’Ivoire and the University of Abomey-Calavi in ​​Benin.

The project will also bring together young people from all university cycles, explains Ms.^me Mohammad. “Not only will we contribute to the advancement of knowledge, but we will train students, we will prepare them for the next generation,” she predicts.

It is with pride that the professor welcomes the grant from the Fonds de recherche du Québec and the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie as part of the Call for joint projects Francophone Africa-Quebec. She feels ready to take up the challenge. “The pressure, it comes from me,” she laughs.

A strong message for women

M^me Mohamed points out that the challenges for women entrepreneurs are “significant”. “First, we tend to prioritize and consider entrepreneurship as a predominantly male activity. Women rarely take the initiative to take out bank loans to set up businesses. And we don’t always trust them because we tell ourselves that the chances of success are higher among men, when this is not true. Women can also create businesses, value, participate in the economy and contribute a lot,” says the researcher.

The fact that she, a woman, obtains a grant to conduct research on women is also promising, believes the professor. “The message I would like to convey is that women are also capable of doing research. They are also able to create their businesses and contribute with great value to economic and social growth and to sustainable development,” she continues.

“We will be able to demonstrate that the recovery of plant biomass can become a very lucrative activity for rural women and an opportunity to bring out female entrepreneurship in rural areas in French-speaking Africa. But the project also aims to establish a certain collaboration between two types of researchers who come from both sides of the Atlantic, to deepen a particular theme that promotes diversity, equity and inclusion,” she adds.

Encourage international projects

Following obtaining funding last February, Ms.^me Mohamed and his team will first carry out an exhaustive literature review. Currently, data on ways to create value in women-led small businesses in Francophone Africa remains limited.

All researchers will go to the field in Africa at the right time, as well as students, continues Mr.^me Mohammad. She also insists on the internationality of the project. “I am in Rouyn-Noranda. But even if we are in Quebec, Côte d’Ivoire or Benin, there are means of technology that we can use, ”she says.

For her, the fact of working with several universities from different countries will bring “great added value” to the development of knowledge and its transmission. The professor also pleads for more projects of this type: “We really need to promote international research and partnerships between researchers from different cultures,” she says.

This special content was produced by the Special Publications team of the Duty, pertaining to marketing. The drafting of Duty did not take part.

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