Authors : Fatmata Fauziatu Vincent; Hamza Amin Kargbo

Volume/Issue : Volume 11 - 2026, Issue 9 - September

Google Scholar : https://tinyurl.com/55hzcxu6

DOI : https://doi.org/10.38124/ijisrt/26sep149

Note : A published paper may take 4-5 working days from the publication date to appear in PlumX Metrics, Semantic Scholar, and ResearchGate.

Abstract : Women-owned food, fashion and interior-decoration enterprises connect practical skill, cultural expression, household welfare and local employment in Sierra Leone. Their transition into digitally enabled businesses, however, is uneven. This critical narrative review examines how mobile money, social-media marketing, digital content, design applications, online customer communication, inventory tools and platform-based learning can expand the capabilities of women entrepreneurs in these sectors. It synthesises recent Sierra Leonean policy and programme evidence with wider scholarship on women’s digital inclusion and small-enterprise transformation. The review argues that technology adoption is not a single decision to obtain a smartphone or open a social-media account. It is a staged process involving access, operational use, business integration and strategic control. Food enterprises can use digital tools for orders, costing, payments and safety information; fashion businesses can strengthen visual merchandising, design, customer measurement and supplier coordination; and interior-decoration firms can use digital portfolios, visualisation and project-management tools. Yet device and data costs, unreliable electricity and connectivity, limited working capital, weak digital and financial literacy, fraud, online harassment, informality and unpaid care responsibilities constrain adoption. Evidence from Sierra Leone’s women-focused creative and financial-inclusion programmes suggests that adoption is stronger when practical training is combined with finance, mentorship, registration support, buyer connections and trustworthy payment systems. The article proposes a Gender-Responsive Digital Enterprise Pathway and recommends sector-specific capability development, low-data tools, cybersecurity support, intellectual-property protection and outcome-based evaluation.

Keywords : Women Entrepreneurs; Digital Enterprise; Food Business; Fashion; Interior Decoration; Mobile Money; Digital Inclusion; Sierra Leone.

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