Cross-sectional survey analysis reveals digital trade mitigates export market entry barriers for female-led small enterprises, suggesting online tools reduce gender gaps.
Key Points
To evaluate whether adopting digital trade tools helps female-led small and medium-sized enterprises in Sub-Saharan Africa overcome structural disadvantages in export markets.
Analyzed firm-level cross-sectional data from the World Bank Enterprise Surveys covering 8,079 firms across 26 Sub-Saharan African countries between 2023 and 2024.
Estimated export participation and export intensity models using econometric techniques to account for endogeneity and selection bias.
Female-led enterprises face significant structural disadvantages in export market entry, but this gap is substantially mitigated by digital trade adoption, particularly through website ownership.
Electronic payment technologies do not consistently moderate the gender-export gap across the surveyed enterprises.
The mitigating effects of digital trade are most pronounced among small-scale firms, service-sector enterprises, and within specific sub-regions.
Cite This Study
Ariel Herbert Fambeu (2026) studied this question.