Visvanathan Naicker,Simon Nsengimana
The purpose of this study is to identify the constraints experiencing women entrepreneurs in conducting small and medium business in Kigali, Rwanda. Rwandan women were discriminated from gaining access to entrepreneurship due to stereotype behaviour. However, since women have entered the business arena, they have strongly contributed to the socioeconomic growth of the country. The quantitative research design was adopted to guide the research. Data were collected from a sample population of 409 women-owned SMEs in Kigali, which was purposively selected. SPSS version 25 was used to analyse data. The results of this research was limited to descriptive analysis and there was no psychology motivation test or other means to measure the motivation towards entrepreneurship. Implications of this study is an investigation of the constraints experienced by womenowned SMEs in Kigali and the link between the women motivation to start businesses. A unique contribution with information being provided regarding an area that has not been studied before with a quantitative method. The originality of this research is that the survey data, focussed exclusively on women SMEs in Kigali by exploring the constraints facing womenowned SMEs in conducting business in Kigali and the factors influencing women to start a business.