Strengthening the Effect of Creativity of Nigerian Women on Business Competitiveness in Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs)

The role of women entrepreneurship in small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) has received increased attention from academics and policymakers in recent years. SMEs have become a more imperative component of women entrepreneurship development. The number of woman-headed businesses and their entrepreneurial activities is quite significant, and this has made women entrepreneurs to be relevant for economic development. Women entrepreneurs have specific individual traits that prompt them to become entrepreneurs, but despite this, they are faced with challenges of identifying their innate abilities to achieve enhanced performance. Therefore, the paper examined the concept of creativity and women entrepreneurs and the resultant effect as it relates to the competitiveness of SMEs. The problem-solving and expertise-based theory of creativity and theory of competitive advantage was considered for this paper. The paper adopts an exploratory and causal study in which the researcher made use of the survey and descriptive design. Five hundred and twenty (520) copies of questionnaire were administered among the selected Nigerian women in Small and Medium-Scale Enterprise in Lagos and Abuja. Findings from the review suggest that creativity is an essential trait required to improve the competitiveness of an SME. Women entrepreneurs have a high tendency to initiate new ideas surrounding the improvement of their businesses. The government was also encouraged to create business enabling environments for women entrepreneurs. Also, managers should identify women in the organization and engage them in attending to creative assignments as this will help them improve on their creative ability.