Staying afloat in the milk business: Borrowing and selling on credit among informal milk vendors in Nairobi
Studies on credit schemes for small-scale entrepreneurs have documented their potential to alleviate poverty and improve food security, nutrition, and health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries. Other studies find mixed impacts of credit schemes on reducing income inequality, empowering wom...
| Autores principales: | , , , , |
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| Formato: | Artículo preliminar |
| Lenguaje: | Inglés |
| Publicado: |
International Food Policy Research Institute
2021
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/120045 |
| _version_ | 1855527121680596992 |
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| author | Myers, Emily Heckert, Jessica Galiè, Alessandra Njiru, Nelly Alonso, Silvia |
| author_browse | Alonso, Silvia Galiè, Alessandra Heckert, Jessica Myers, Emily Njiru, Nelly |
| author_facet | Myers, Emily Heckert, Jessica Galiè, Alessandra Njiru, Nelly Alonso, Silvia |
| author_sort | Myers, Emily |
| collection | Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace) |
| description | Studies on credit schemes for small-scale entrepreneurs have documented their potential to alleviate poverty and improve food security, nutrition, and health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries. Other studies find mixed impacts of credit schemes on reducing income inequality, empowering women, and enhancing children’s education. Moreover, growing evidence finds that entrepreneurs offer credit to customers; little is known about what this practice means for entrepreneurs, and even less about gendered differences in this practice. Herein, we consider the case of final retailers in agricultural value chains and examine how male and female informal milk vendors from peri-urban Nairobi borrow and sell on credit, and how these experiences affect their businesses where there are few formal safeguards to ensure repayment. In 2017, we conducted 49 individual interviews, four key informant interviews, and six focus groups with men and women who were current or former milk vendors. A thematic analysis revealed that vendors sell on credit to appeal to customers, which may be advantageous when vendors need to rid themselves of milk before it spoils, regardless of gender. With few strategies to recoup costs from customers who fail to repay, however, failure to collect debt may cause default for vendors who acquired milk via informal borrowing. The consequences are likely more severe for women vendors, who generally have less capital to fall back on relative to men. Development organizations should identify gender-sensitive financial services that can help entrepreneurs maintain viable businesses despite the volatility of borrowing and selling on credit. |
| format | Artículo preliminar |
| id | CGSpace120045 |
| institution | CGIAR Consortium |
| language | Inglés |
| publishDate | 2021 |
| publishDateRange | 2021 |
| publishDateSort | 2021 |
| publisher | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| publisherStr | International Food Policy Research Institute |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | CGSpace1200452025-12-02T21:02:52Z Staying afloat in the milk business: Borrowing and selling on credit among informal milk vendors in Nairobi Myers, Emily Heckert, Jessica Galiè, Alessandra Njiru, Nelly Alonso, Silvia milk production informal sector gender agricultural value chains enterprises capacity development research dairying microenterprises qualitative analysis credit Studies on credit schemes for small-scale entrepreneurs have documented their potential to alleviate poverty and improve food security, nutrition, and health outcomes in low- and middle-income countries. Other studies find mixed impacts of credit schemes on reducing income inequality, empowering women, and enhancing children’s education. Moreover, growing evidence finds that entrepreneurs offer credit to customers; little is known about what this practice means for entrepreneurs, and even less about gendered differences in this practice. Herein, we consider the case of final retailers in agricultural value chains and examine how male and female informal milk vendors from peri-urban Nairobi borrow and sell on credit, and how these experiences affect their businesses where there are few formal safeguards to ensure repayment. In 2017, we conducted 49 individual interviews, four key informant interviews, and six focus groups with men and women who were current or former milk vendors. A thematic analysis revealed that vendors sell on credit to appeal to customers, which may be advantageous when vendors need to rid themselves of milk before it spoils, regardless of gender. With few strategies to recoup costs from customers who fail to repay, however, failure to collect debt may cause default for vendors who acquired milk via informal borrowing. The consequences are likely more severe for women vendors, who generally have less capital to fall back on relative to men. Development organizations should identify gender-sensitive financial services that can help entrepreneurs maintain viable businesses despite the volatility of borrowing and selling on credit. 2021-08-24 2022-07-06T11:16:58Z 2022-07-06T11:16:58Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/120045 en https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.133060 Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Myers, Emily; Heckert, Jessica; Galiè, Alessandra; Njiru, Nelly; and Alonso, Silvia. 2021. Staying afloat in the milk business: Borrowing and selling on credit among informal milk vendors in Nairobi. IFPRI Discussion Paper 2039. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). https://doi.org/10.2499/p15738coll2.134531. |
| spellingShingle | milk production informal sector gender agricultural value chains enterprises capacity development research dairying microenterprises qualitative analysis credit Myers, Emily Heckert, Jessica Galiè, Alessandra Njiru, Nelly Alonso, Silvia Staying afloat in the milk business: Borrowing and selling on credit among informal milk vendors in Nairobi |
| title | Staying afloat in the milk business: Borrowing and selling on credit among informal milk vendors in Nairobi |
| title_full | Staying afloat in the milk business: Borrowing and selling on credit among informal milk vendors in Nairobi |
| title_fullStr | Staying afloat in the milk business: Borrowing and selling on credit among informal milk vendors in Nairobi |
| title_full_unstemmed | Staying afloat in the milk business: Borrowing and selling on credit among informal milk vendors in Nairobi |
| title_short | Staying afloat in the milk business: Borrowing and selling on credit among informal milk vendors in Nairobi |
| title_sort | staying afloat in the milk business borrowing and selling on credit among informal milk vendors in nairobi |
| topic | milk production informal sector gender agricultural value chains enterprises capacity development research dairying microenterprises qualitative analysis credit |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/120045 |
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