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Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the multinational oil companies’ (MOCs) corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in Nigeria. Its special focus is to investigate the impact of the global memorandum of understanding (GMoU) on capacity development for small-scale women entrepreneurs in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach – This paper adopts a survey research technique, aimed at gathering information from a representative sample of the population, as it is essentially cross-sectional, describing and interpreting the current situation. A total of 768 women respondents were sampled across the rural areas of the Niger Delta region in Nigeria. Findings – The results from the use of a combined propensity score matching and logit model indicate that though, a meagre part of the CSR intervention are targeted specifically for capacity empowerment of women, the CSR of the MOCs using the GMoU model has recorded little but significant success in building capacity of women in the areas of enhancing educational status, reduction in socio-economic barriers, access to credit, starting personal business enterprises, undertaking paid employment, and generally enhancing means of livelihoods. Practical implications – This suggests that if CSR interventions are not tailored to enhanced opportunities for women, they may contribute towards reducing the participation of women in economic, political and social development and, by extension, damping efforts of reducing poverty and achieving the sustainable development goals (SDGs) in the Niger Delta. Social implications – This implies that the private sector, generally, can play an important role in addressing some of the logistical and cultural challenges that face rural women, and promote gender diversity and more equal access to economic opportunity through the CSR programmes in host communities. Originality/value – This research contributes to the inequality debate in small-scale entrepreneurship and inclusive growth literature from the CSR perspective. It concludes that business has an obligation to help in solving problems of public concern.