Gender inclusion in digital financing is chief to nation-building and has critical implications for building women's resilience and improving household welfare. Thus, incorporating gender inclusiveness in recruiting agents in DFS markets may be a way forward in improving women’s utilization of DFS. This investigative study examines the gender differences in the factors influencing recruitment of CICO agents; drivers of access and usage of CICO retail networks by women; impact of CICO recruitment requirements on women's business performance; barriers to the recruitment of women as CICO agents; and the feasible interventions to tackle the highlighted barriers. Two hundred and forty (240) randomly sampled CICO agents were interviewed. The collected information was supplemented with key informant interviews with representatives of nine DFS institutions. The study showed that the average age for the female and male agents was 30 and 32years respectively. Most DFS agents, both male (81.6%) and female (75%), have attained more than secondary education; while more than half of the female and male agents are married, with an average household size of 4 persons. Over half of the male and female agents consider CICO retail their primary income source. The average years of experience in CICO business for the female and male agents are 2 and 3years respectively. Majority of the agents (90%) acquired their POS terminals at an average of ₦32,411.76. The average monthly income from CICO business is ₦79,800 and ₦75,816.3 for the female and male agents. The study also showed that the factors critical to the recruitment of female agents in CICO retail services include: age, education, and the type of organization providing CICO retail services; while the factors affecting women’s utilization of CICO agents include trust, security, and digital literacy, while proximity and transaction costs are particularly significant for women. The study findings further revealed that entry requirements have no significant effect on women CICO agents' business performance. The primary constraints limiting CICO retail network participation among women were security challenges, poor financial literacy, and insufficient digital skills; while the identified solutions to these constraints include improving security, providing loans, and offering training. Hence, it is therefore recommended from the study that government and CICO services providers should invest more on securities measure and provide targeted training in digital and financial literacy essentially to encourage more women to participate in the CICO retail network.
Keywords: Agents, Entry Barriers, Digital Financial Service, Retail Market, and Nigeria,
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