Opportunities and challenges of private sector female managers in the south west region of Cameroon

This paper examines the challenges faced by female managers in the south west region of Cameroon and the opportunities open to them. Female managers were classified as entrepreneurs/business owners and employees in enterprises. Data were obtained from surveys and interviews of women and business persons. It was observed that a majority of women in the south west region of Cameroon are employees in business organizations, with only 4% of them owning enterprises they work in. This shows the challenges that women face in entrepreneurship. However, even as employees, most climb to leadership positions and employ collaborative management style with a 4% minority employing authoritative management style. A significant proportion feels motivated working in an environment where the majority of their colleagues are males and some 23% feel competent in such an environment. These women and business persons report that women have the opportunity to occupy positions such as accountants, auditors, tellers, cashiers, secretaries and many others. On testing the challenges of female managers, the statistical test fails to reject the hypothesis that women efforts are not affected by the challenges they encounter. The paper thus concludes that diverse approaches should be employed to enhance women’s managerial capacities and improve on their performance.