Abstract
This study investigated financial management skills needed by rural women
entrepreneurs in Kwara state. Specially the study determined skills needed
by the rural women for: sourcing fund for their businesses enterprises;
managing sourced fund for business expansion; and management of profit
from their businesses. The study adopted survey design. The population for
the study was 74 comprising 30 bank officials, 28 Business Educators from
tertiary institutions and 16 medium-scale entrepreneurs all from area of the
study. Questionnaire was used to collect data. Mean, standard deviation and
Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze data. Findings include
12 skills in sourcing for funds. These include ability to: make personal
savings; joint partnership etc. Other finds are14 skills in managing sourced
funds. These include, among others, keep records of daily transaction,
allocate funds to articles of the business, ensure that customers will receive
the goods on arrival and pay for it, and 10 skills for effective management of
profit. These include among others, meet personal and family needs,
establish effective forecasting of profits, keep effective records of revenue
and expenses. ANOVA reveals there was no significant difference (p>0.05)
in the mean ratings of the three groups of respondents on the financial
management skills. It was recommended that the identified financial
management skills be packaged and used to train the women entrepreneurs
in rural areas of Kwara State.