Abstract This article analyzes the role of religious faith in the entrepreneurial journeys of women entrepreneurs in times of crises. It explores how religious beliefs and practices serve as psychological resources that help women entrepreneurs to navigate multiple crises. An exploratory qualitative study was conducted with 25 women entrepreneurs in Mali. The findings suggest that religious faith acts as a multidimensional psychological cognitive, emotional, behavioral, and social resource that enables women to find meaning in hardship, regulate stress, sustain perseverance, and rely on networks of religious solidarity. These mechanisms contribute to maintaining psychological well-being and ensuring business continuity despite crisis-related constraints. This research contributes to the growing literature on entrepreneurial spirituality in crisis contexts, particularly in Africa, by providing original insights from West Africa. It also suggests ways to integrate religious faith into theoretical frameworks such as Ryff’s model of psychological wellbeing, to further enrich understanding of psychological well-being among women entrepreneurs. Moreover, the study opens new avenues for designing support mechanisms that incorporate spiritual dimensions into coaching, mentoring, and training programs for women entrepreneurs. From a public policy perspective, the results underscore the importance of broadening entrepreneurship support beyond purely economic or technical approaches, highlighting the need for institutional recognition of spiritual and cultural resources as key components of entrepreneurial resilience.
Rosalie Douyon (Tue,) studied this question.