Assessment of women’s involvement in black soap enterprise in Osun State, Nigeria

Black soap production is an indigenous income generating enterprise that confers self-sufficiency on producing household and capable of reducing poverty among rural women. The study therefore, assessed women’s involvement in black soap production in Osun State, Nigeria. It specifically described the demographic characteristics, determined the profitability of the enterprise and its contribution to their livelihood, community attitude, and identified constraints limiting women involvement in the enterprise. Snowball sampling technique was used to select 120 respondents for the study. Interview schedule was used to collect primary data from the respondents while descriptive and correlation statistical tools were used for the data analysis. Findings revealed that majority (90 %) of the respondents were married with mean age of 48.9 years. Majority (79.2%) acquired black soap processing skills from their parents. The results of gross margin analysis also revealed that TR, TVC and GM were ₦12,617.50, ₦10,695.80, and ₦1,921.70, respectively. The results also indicated that black soap contributed mostly to feeding (64.2 %), clothing (58.8 %) and housing (41.2 %). Above half (52.2 %) of the respondents were highly involved in black soap production activities while 81.7 % indicated favourable community attitude towards the enterprise. Also, scarcity of water during dry season (mean=2.78) and inadequate finance (mean=2.28) were the major constraints limiting women involvement in the enterprise. In conclusion, Ministry of women affairs, Nigeria should give considerable attention to address the identified constraints in order to enhance the development of the enterprise.