This resource has been created for civil society associations (such as fish processing and retail networks), development actors, private sector and research for development actors for people and institutions who want to collaborate with current or potential women entrepreneurs and the purpose is to equitably enhance women’s opportunities, involvement in and returns from markets by identifying business opportunities.

1. Identifying niches for women’s
entrepreneurship in aquatic food chains:
A methods package

2. Citation
BoP Innovation Center and FISH. 2021. Identifying niches for women’s
entrepreneurship in aquatic food chains: A methods package. Methodology guide.
Penang, Malaysia: CGIAR Research Program on Fish Agri-Food Systems.
This work was based on a study led by BoP Innovation Center and WorldFish and
the methods package was drafted by Lotte Marie Brouwer. Cynthia McDougall
wrote the revised version and Rahma Adam led the final revisions and completion.

3. About this methods package
This resource has been created
• for civil society associations (such as fish processing and retail
networks), development actors, private sector and research for
development actors
• for people and institutions who want to collaborate with
current or potential women entrepreneurs
• the purpose is to equitably enhance women’s
opportunities, involvement in and returns from markets
by identifying business opportunities.

4. Added value to the aquaculture
value chain sector
The method adds value to the sector in that it
• Moves past “top-down” approaches to livelihoods investments in which opportunities
and innovations are decided by actors other than the women involved. This is because
these both under recognize women’s considerable agency and expertise and may be
out of line with their aspirations.
• At the same time, it aims to overcome the limits of purely “bottom-up” approaches that
are participatory and respond to aspirations, yet may fail to factor in market demand.
• Specifically, this approach aims to find an “opportunity sweet spot” at the intersection of
desirability, feasibility and viability.
The methods package was developed and piloted in Nigeria in 2018–2019 with intended
adaptation potential for other contexts in emerging markets. It is intended as a broad
guide to be adapted and nuanced according to the needs of the “target group” (identified
women entrepreneurs and potential entrepreneurs). We welcome all feedback and
suggestions.

5. 1. WHY & WHAT

6. Why is enabling the equitable engagement of women as
entrepreneurs in the aquatic foods sector important?
• Enhancing food and nutrition security, reducing poverty and
meeting gender equality and women’s empowerment goals can
only be accomplished when women are able to fully participate
and benefit equitably in aquatic food chains.
• Not only are gender equality and women’s empowerment a
human right and global goal in and of themselves, they are also
instrumental to other Sustainable Development Goals. For
example:
• Gender equality is a key contributor to growing and
strengthening national, regional and global economies1:
Between 12 and 28 trillion could be added to the global GDP
by 2025 if women were empowered to their full potential.2
• Gender equality and the empowerment of diverse women
are critical to food and nutrition security and sustainable
management of ecosystems, as well as adaptive capacity in
the face of shocks.3

7. Why is enabling the equitable engagement of women as
entrepreneurs in the aquatic foods sector important?
Yet women’s entrepreneurship
is often driven by necessity
(compared to men’s by
opportunity), meaning it may
be out of sync with their
aspirations or market potential
for growth. It is often lower
return than men’s, and women
face chronic barriers once in
chains, which contributes to
women’s higher drop-out
rates. Insights into how to
increase opportunities for
entrepreneurship for women
in the aquatic foods sector
are needed to combat
poverty, improve nutrition
and close the supply gap.

8. What does the method identify?
• Broadly, it answers the question: What are the key opportunities for women’s
entrepreneurship in a given aquatic food chain?
• More specifically, through a step-wise process, it assesses desirability,
feasibility and viability of potential opportunities for women entrepreneurs. In
particular it
• identifies a long list of opportunities (about 10);
• reduces this to a priority shortlist of top 2–3 opportunities, including risks
and factors for success;
• fleshes these out into 2–3 tangible business models.

9. Example from pilot:
Nigerian catfish entrepreneurs
• The BoP Innovation Center (Bopinc) organized workshops where female entrepreneurs were
invited to co-design businesses cases for female entrepreneurship.
• Based on the aspirations, constraining and enabling factors identified during the research
phase, the Bopinc and WorldFish went about to select business opportunities in fish the value
chain to co-design the best viable business models that are suitable for female entrepreneurs in
the fish value chain.
• Female entrepreneurs from the Catfish & Allied Fish Farmers Associations of Nigeria (CAFFAN)
were recruited to participate in the co-creation sessions.
• The female participants had to match certain criteria, specifically women who could pick up the
role of “innovators” and “early adopters” of innovation within the sector were sought. This was
important, because the niche opportunities presented in the workshops required a willingness to
take risks, make the needed investments and pioneer with the opportunities that are presented
in their locale.
• The respondents were all women with ages ranging from 34 to 75 years old. All of them were
either fish farmers or fish processors.

10. • As noted in the adoption curve below, the women can act as role models
and drive adoption of new ideas among larger groups of women, creating a
large effect over time.
 The three promising business opportunities that were selected by the
female entrepreneurs who participated in the co-creation workshop were:
(1) fish tanks close to home, (2) shared marketing outlet, and (3) fish oil
and crackers.
Example from pilot:
Nigerian catfish entrepreneurs
Figure 1. The innovation adoption curve.

11. 2. HOW: Assessment process and framework

12. I. Discover & Define
• Uncover opportunities and insights
• Co-develop your business model
• Build an inclusive business case
II. Develop & Deliver
• Pilot your business model
• Build commercial partnerships
• Strengthen capacity and scaling
HOW: Business development overview
DISCOVER DEFINE DEVELOP DELIVER
WHAT SHOULD I DO?
I have an idea
or problem to
solve
I know exactly
what to do next
I know how to
realize success
I know how to make
the success
bigger
I better understand
the opportunity
HOW SHOULD I DO IT?

13. DISCOVER DEFINE DEVELOP DELIVER
WHAT SHOULD I DO?
I have an idea
or problem to
solve
I know exactly
what to do next
I know how to
realize success
I know how to make
the success
bigger
I better understand
the opportunity
HOW SHOULD I DO IT?
I. Discover & Define
• Uncover opportunities and insights
• Co-develop your business model
• Build an inclusive business case
This methods package focuses on the process
of identifying “what should I do?” The process of
answering this starts to identify actionable next
steps. These can be further developed within a
following “how should I do it?” stage.
HOW: Focus of this package

14. Get INFORMED Get INSIGHTFUL Get CREATIVE Get VALIDATED
Conduct desk research on
market potential,
constraining and enabling
factors
to female
entrepreneurship, and
broader challenges the
sector faces.
Make several local trips to
different value chain
actors in selected states to
organize interviews, field
observations, focus
groups, etc.
Organize a minimum of
three 1-day workshops
where female
entrepreneurs will be
invited to
co-design business cases
for female
entrepreneurship.
Organize a workshop with
WorldFish participants to
validate findings to write
final report.
1 2 3 4
DISCOVER DEFINE
HOW: A four-step process

15. A business opportunity will only be successful when it meets three checks: it’s desirable in the
market, it’s feasible and it’s viable. When co-building a business case, make sure to properly
answer these questions.
Desirability Feasibility
Viability
Can the entrepreneur make it work,
also considering the environment in
which she works?
Do the customers of the
entrepreneur want the
product or service? And can
they afford it?
Can the entrepreneur sustain
and scale the business?
OPPORTUNITY
SWEET SPOT
HOW: Framework

16. Example from the Nigeria pilot study
In the pilot study, the three checks (Viability, Feasibility, Desirability) are the framework that was used to
evaluate the different business opportunities throughout the different building blocks. The final analysis of the
business opportunities can be found in the final report.
Niche 1: Fish tanks close to home
Lenses Rate Enabling factors Constraining factors
Viability ● Fish feed amounts to 75% of total production costs due to the high price.
● Production of the tank is limited compared with an earthen pond.
● The opportunity requires high upfront investment. It takes at least 10
plastic tanks to become profitable in combination with buying/renting
generators, aerators and water quality testing kits.
● Access to credit from lending institutions for the purchase of this
technology would not be easy.
Feasibility ● It offers flexibility, security and convenience for the women. It
is easy to combine with their other roles in the household.
● Due to the proximity to the house, it is likely that spouses will
be supportive in the adoption of this opportunity.
● The plastic tanks require a large compound.
● A borehole is needed on the compound.
Desirability ● Fish from fish tanks have less sand and therefore they are
easy to clean.
● Earthen ponds are easily polluted through dumping and
chemicals used upstream. With fish tanks, these problems do
not exist.
HOW: Framework

17. 3. HOW: Tools

18. Get
INSIGHTFUL
Hold focus group discussions, deep dialogues and immersions at input
supplier nodes, fishponds, markets and other critical points in the selected
chain to get a full understanding of chain dynamics, including consumer
demand, gender dynamics in different nodes, and the overall and business
aspirations of women in the target entrepreneurial group.
Get
CREATIVE
Co-create sessions with groups of women aquatic food sector
entrepreneurs to enrich insights and information and co-build 2–3 tangible
business models that are feasible, viable and desirable to the entrepreneurs
and in the market.
Get
VALIDATED
Validate the identified top opportunities in a participatory workshop.
2
3
4
Get
INFORMED
Conduct desk research, including on general market trends and consumer
demands, constraining and enabling factors for small and medium
enterprises—to women entrepreneurs in particular—in the country and local
context, and the broader challenges and opportunities the sector faces.
1
HOW: Tools for each step

19. Get
INSIGHTFUL
Get
CREATIVE
Get
VALIDATED
2
3
4
Get
INFORMED
Conduct desk research, including on general market trends and consumer
demands, constraining and enabling factors for small and medium
enterprises—to women entrepreneurs in particular—in the country and local
context, and the broader challenges and opportunities the sector faces.
1
HOW: Tools

20. Tools used Reason for use
Desk research Desk research is not about collecting data. Instead, carrying out
desk research involves reviewing existing materials from
experiences that have gone before to identify insights and lessons
to guide this endevor. Dig deeper than a broad understanding of
the sector in this context to answer specific background questions
about the chains, their gender dynamics, as well as demand,
constraints and opportunities.
Gender-sensitive value
chain map
(Vanderschaeghe and
Lindo 2008), see here
Gender mapping at this early stage makes visible where women
already are (and are not yet) engaging in a given value chain.
Despite participating in most aquatic and agricultural value chains,
women tend to be overlooked in data and underrecognized in
policy and associated extension. This tool gives guidelines to
practitioners for how to conduct a gender mapping of the value
chain. This map can also be used in participatory workshops with
value chain actors.
1. GET INFORMED: Tools

21. Within the desk research that was performed under Building Block 1, Bopinc used the Gender Sensitive Value Chain Map tool to
surface where women are currently active in the aquaculture value chain. Note that this is just sketching out the chain—the next stage of
the assessment needs to go beyond “where in the chains” to also assess gender dynamics along the chains.
1. GET INFORMED: Example

22. Some tips for the literature review…
• Define your research questions before you start and let your
client and partners give feedback.
• Use good quality sources.
• Be consistent in referencing and put the references in the text
while you write, not when you finish writing.
• Using a reference generator makes life easier, for example:
http://www.harvardgenerator.com/.
1. GET INFORMED: Some tips

23. Get
INSIGHTFUL
Hold focus group discussions, deep dialogues and immersions at input supplier nodes,
fishponds, markets and other critical points in the selected chain to get a full understanding of
chain dynamics, including consumer demand, gender dynamics in different nodes, and the
overall and business aspirations of women in the target entrepreneurial group.
Get
CREATIVE
Get
VALIDATED
2
3
4
Get
INFORMED
1
HOW: Tools

24. 2. GET INSIGHTFUL: Tools used
Tools used Reason for use
Key tools Reason
Deep dialogue This is meant to gain a deeper and more varied insight into the target group (women who are current or potential entrepreneurs in the
given context), which is critical to identify meaningful opportunities and understand their current challenges.
Focus group discussion Focus group sessions, such as with 4–8 people from the target group, may be about 1–2 hours and provide a quick overview of the
opinions and needs of target group members. Part of their value lies in the unexpected findings that could come from a free-flowing
discussion in the group, using a topic guide.
Context immersion Taking part in our respondents daily activities reveals not only the physical details of the person’s life, but also the routines and habits
that animate it. Honest reflections and good ideas are often expressed while people work together or during informal chats.
Sub-tools that can be used in
the focus group discussions
How they were used in the pilot
Scenario creation We build stories that summed up our understandings and then presented them to our respondents during an interview or focus group
for clarification, feedback or to validate our assumptions.
Activity mapping We assisted respondents in making a simple map that represented their activities within a given timeframe, such as “yesterday’s
schedule.” This method provided a useful introduction into current local practices and which improvements could be made.
Social mapping We used this in the focus group discussion to allow our respondents to map the socioeconomic relationships between relevant
individuals and organizations. We asked participants to map out the people they are related to through their business, community or
daily activities.

25. 2. GET INSIGHTFUL: Example from the pilot
In Building Block 2, in the
Nigeria pilot we applied
context immersion in
order to identify barriers
and business
opportunities for women
in aquaculture value
chains by visiting several
value chain actors at
their place of business. In
the picture to the right,
you see how catfish are
being smoked by a fish
processing company in
Ibadan.

26. 2. GET INSIGHTFUL: Tips
Some tips…
• Make sure the plan for gathering insights is realistic and aligned with goals.
o Always decide how you will record and report on findings before you start.
o Plan the flexibility or structure to align with how specific the information needed is.
o Design group composition (men/women, age, roles, etc.) to align with the aims.
o Think about the timing and location and how to work around participants’ other demands and
consider how these affect the outcomes (interruptions, feeling comfortable, in their own context,
etc.)
• Create discussion and interview guides for the sessions.
o Open with thanks and clarifications of goals, as well as asking permissions for participation as
needed (and clarify and agree on anonymity or use of names, images, etc).
o Ask “why” a thousand times.
o This is about participants’ perspectives and desires—don’t give your own opinion unless you want
to see how people will respond to it.
o Diverse opinions and experiences are expected—there will not be a single “truth’’ or “right option.”
Aim to understand and respect/respond to these differences going forward.

27. HOW: Tools
Get
CREATIVE
Co-create sessions with groups of women aquatic food sector
entrepreneurs to enrich insights and information and co-build 2–3 tangible
business models that are feasible, viable and desirable to the entrepreneurs
and in the market.
Get
VALIDATED
3
4
Get
INFORMED
1
Get
INSIGHTFUL
2

28. 3. GET CREATIVE: Tools used
Tools used Reason for use
Key tools Reason
Co-creation session Having the target group create solutions for their own problems will help make their thinking explicit, highlight what they value,
and it may reveal unexpected themes and needs. It also taps into the group’s own agency—a power that is important beyond
this session.
Storyboards and role plays as tools are an easy and engaging way to enable people to make something tangible and then
explain why they made certain decisions.
Sub-tools Reason
Business model canvas As a template to develop or document business models, it helps to describe your customer, the value you bring, how you bring
it, how you create revenue, and the activities, resources and partners you need to operate. This model offers a quick and
straightforward way to discuss and describe your business model and work on it with a larger group of people. It also provides
a snapshot of your business that you can easily present to stakeholders without providing a full business plan.
Creating scenarios i) Build situational stories to make it easier for your target group to understand abstract questions. Develop a fictive or realistic
story that sums up your understanding and then present it to your target group of entrepreneurs during an interview or focus
group for clarification, feedback or to validate your assumptions.
ii) Develop “customer personas” to define and verify who the people are who will buy the products being considered for
development. Refine these customer segments to be sufficiently nuanced. If possible, reach out to “real” customers at this
stage to check assumptions about their interests and demand.
Rapid prototyping Rapid prototyping is an incredibly effective way to make ideas tangible, learn through making and quickly get your target group
to say what they think about certain propositions or interventions. You can use different types of prototypes: storyboards, role
plays and mock-ups. There is no need to make it perfect: just make it good enough to get the idea across.

29. 3. GET CREATIVE: Example from pilot
During the recruitment process of Building Block 3, the facilitators created a one-page “scenario”
(a “strawperson” for each potential opportunity) using information from the previous steps.
These were used at the start of the discussions of the creative sessions to spark ideas.

30. 3. GET CREATIVE: Tips
• Some tips…
• Create the structure and select the tools you will use.
o Think about the type of participants to invite. (In the pilot, we chose possible
“innovators and early adopters” of the new business opportunities.)
o Make the opportunity practical through creating a scenario.
• Think about what is needed to compensate participants for their time and contributions
for joining the session (e.g. food, drinks, a travel allowance, etc.).
• Manage expectations each step of the way (e.g. don’t promise implementation of the
selected opportunity if this is not definitely planned and budgeted).
• Involve potential investors as much as possible (but chose the right moments—e.g. not
during the early sessions, so as not to unduly influence participants).

31. HOW: Tools
Get
VALIDATED
Validate the identified top opportunities in a participatory workshop.
4
Get
INFORMED
1
Get
INSIGHTFUL
2
Get
CREATIVE
3
Hold focus group discussions, deep dialogues and immersions at input
supplier nodes, fishponds, markets and other critical points in the selected
chain to get a full understanding of chain dynamics, including consumer
demand, gender dynamics in different nodes, and the overall and business
aspirations of women in the target entrepreneurial group.
Co-create sessions with groups of women aquatic food sector
entrepreneurs to enrich insights and information and co-build 2–3 tangible
business models that are feasible, viable and desirable to the entrepreneurs
and in the market.
Conduct desk research, including on general market trends and consumer
demands, constraining and enabling factors for small and medium
enterprises—to women entrepreneurs in particular—in the country and local
context, and the broader challenges and opportunities the sector faces.

32. 4. GET VALIDATED: Tools used
Tools used Reason for use
Key tools Reason
Participatory workshop A participatory workshop is used to validate findings. At its most basic, a participatory workshop is an organized event
that brings a group of people together to seek their opinions, extract their knowledge and solve problems in a
collaborative and creative environment.
Sub-tools Reason
Gender-sensitive value
chain analysis
Gender mapping focuses on making women visible in a value chain. Despite participating in most agricultural value
chains, women tend to be invisible. This tool gives guidelines to practitioners for how to conduct a gender mapping of the
value chain. As well as a lighter touch map being created in Stage 1, a gendered value chain map can also be fleshed
out with information from Stages 2 and 3, and then shared, improved and refined in participatory workshops with value
chain actors. For concepts and issues to consider in gendered value chain analysis, see also Kruijssen F, Danielsen K,
Newton J and Braaten Y. 2021. Gendered aquaculture value chain analysis and development: An analytical framework.
Penang, Malaysia: WorldFish.
Business model canvas This is a template to develop or document business models that help to describe your customer, the value you bring,
how you bring it, how you create revenue, and the activities, resources and partners that you need to operate. The
canvas offers a quick and straightforward way to discuss and describe your business model and work on it with a larger
group of people. It also provides a snapshot of your business that you can easily present to stakeholders without
providing a full business plan.
Action plan Developing an action plan can help to turn visions into reality and increase efficiency and accountability within a team.
An action plan describes the way in which a team will meet its objectives through detailed action steps describing how
and when these steps will be taken.

33. 4. GET VALIDATED: Example from the pilot
During the validation workshop that was organized under Building Block 4, the business model canvas
of all opportunities was shown to offer a quick and straightforward way to communicate and validate the
content of the business cases.

34. 4. GET VALIDATED: Tips
Some tips…
• Create the structure and select the tools you will use, aligned carefully to your and participants’ aims and
expectations. Plan how findings will be captured and reported ahead of time.
• Invite participants well ahead of time.
• This is about the perspective of the participants based on their experiences, not about your views or
about “a single truth.” Contradictory information is very valuable as well.
• Make sure the entrepreneurs and some customers you are targeting are both in the session to provide
their own perspectives. Decide when potential investors should be engaged.
• Design and facilitate to ensure equitable participation and voice—make sure less vocal participants have
ways to be heard, especially those from less powerful groups.
• Make it fun and interactive (use stickers, voting paddles, games, group presentations and visual
representations of a discussion). Keep the energy up! For example, do some dancing in between different
parts of the workshop or play a game, as appropriate to and fun for the given group (never let participants
get bored or sleepy).
• Be realistic about time and manage time well (hang the schedule in the room).
• Share the insights back to all in a format that is useful to them and in a timely way.

35. Then what?
• Follow up as appropriate on the next
steps, including connecting potential
entrepreneurs with investors as
needed, and setting up plans for the
”Develop & Deliver” action-oriented
next steps.
• Apart from working to address the financial gaps identified from your potential
women entrepreneurial pool by linking them up with investors, make sure the
gaps that were identified in the entrepreneurial/business acumen as well as
technical/knowledge skills are also addressed through linking the women
entrepreneurs to business training coaches and knowledge experts in the
niche they are focusing on to deliver in the market.

36. Then what?
• Ensure the potential entrepreneurs have set
goals/targets they would like to reach and they are
tracking those targets over time so that they can be
able to evaluate how they are performing themselves.
Three ways to keep the potential entrepreneurs
accountable is by
(a) setting them up with another woman who is
working in the same node/niche of business so that
they can keep checking on each other to see how
they are doing;
(b) getting them a mentor, someone who is considered to be a champion in that business in that
locale to be able to monitor the entrepreneur and provide guidance on how to carry out the business
in a way that will be profitable and enriching;
(c) try as much as one can to link the women potential entrepreneurs activities in the
aquaculture/agricultural value chain to development initiatives or long-term projects that are taking
place in that particular locale in order to ensure sustainability of the activities and the efforts to lift the
life of the entrepreneurs that has already started.

37. Acknowledgments
This work was undertaken as part of, and funded by, the CGIAR Research
Program on Fish Agri-Food Systems (FISH CRP) led by WorldFish. The
program is supported by contributors to the CGIAR Trust Fund. This work is
also part of the Aquaculture: Increasing Income, Diversifying Diets and
Empowering Women in Bangladesh and Nigeria (IDEA) project [INV009865],
funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The study team would like to
thank the women and men of Nigeria, experts from the Technologies for African
Agricultural Transformation (TAAT) program, which is funded by the African
Development Bank, who generously contributed their insights and time as well
as the team from Bopinc, who conducted the fieldwork and carried out the
study on behalf of WorldFish.

38. A publication of

39. More Information About this Methods
Package
• From June to November 2018, Bopinc undertook a
scoping study for WorldFish and the FISH CRP on
promising opportunities for women-led entrepreneurship
in the aquaculture sector of Nigeria.
• This methods package aims to share the process and
tools used within the research. It can be used as
inspiration for other teams when designing collaborative
assessments of opportunities with women who are
entrepreneurs or potential entrepreneurs in the aquatic
food sector or beyond.

40. Annex: Executive summary
• A desk review was carried out by Bopinc to understand market potential, constraining and
enabling factors to female entrepreneurship, and broader challenges the aquaculture sector
faces.
• WorldFish and Bopinc decided to go deeper into understanding five niche business
opportunities along the value chain, reflecting both current and possible future niches for
women entrepreneurs to pursue.
• The five niches that were studied were: (1) input provider, (2) fingerling producer, (3) fish
producer, (4) fish processor, and (5) fish marketer.
• Ten different business opportunities were identified out of the five niches noted above.
These were: (1) broodstock production, (2) local fish feed production, (3) fingerling
production, (4) fish tanks close to home, (5) shared marketing outlet, (6) processing frozen
fish using an alternative power source, (7) shared fish smoking, (8) shared NAFDAC
certification to export, (9) processing fish oil and fish crackers and (10) improving smoking
practices of subsistence processors/marketers.

41. • There were six barriers in almost all five niches: (1) knowledge of the technicalities of
that particular node the entrepreneur, (2) funds to pursue the business or carry out
the chosen activity in the value chain, (3) cost and quality of inputs, (4) general farm
management, (5) time and perception, and (6) credit management.
• Deducing information on the above opportunities and constraints, WorldFish and
Bopinc selected opportunities that will take into account: (i) the movement of women
from subsistence activities to earning their own income, (ii) supporting women who
are already involved in fish entrepreneurship to increase their own income, and (iii)
facilitating women into new areas of the value chain.
• Based the above criteria and in the process of co-creation, three business
opportunities were proposed: The three business opportunities are:
1. Fish production: fish tanks close to home
2. Fish marketing: shared marketing outlet
3. Fish processing: fish oil and fish crackers.
Annex: Executive summary

42. Notes
1 McKinsey Global Institute. 2015. The Power of Parity: How Advancing Women’s Equality Can Add $12 Trillion to
Global Growth. London: McKinsey Global Institute.
2 International Finance Corporation. 2017. Investing in Women: New Evidence for the Business Case. Washington,
DC: IFC.
3 Atkins, M., McDougall C and Cohen PJ. 2021. COVID-19 impacts on women fish processors and traders in sub-
Saharan Africa: Insights and recommendations for building forward better. Penang, Malaysia: CGIAR Research
Program on Fish Agri-Food Systems. Program Report: FISH-2021-12