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The informal retail sector serves as the primary employment engine and domestic trade backbone across Sub-Saharan Africa. However, micro-enterprises in this sector face systemic constraints, including restricted credit access, supply chain volatility, and cash-flow fragility. This study examines the structural impact of digital financial inclusion—specifically mobile money integration, digital credit scoring, and merchant point-of-sale (PoS) adoption—on micro-enterprise operational agility and revenue resilience. Drawing on a multi-stage stratified survey of 1,250 urban and peri-urban micro-retailers across major commercial hubs (Lagos, Kano, and Ibadan) and structural equation modeling (SEM), we quantify how digital payment architecture influences firm performance. The empirical findings reveal that high levels of digital financial integration increase enterprise revenue growth by 28.4% ($p < .001$) and improve inventory turnover by 34% during macroeconomic downturns. We propose a practical policy framework for central banks and fintech developers to maximize inclusive growth.

Standard economic models frequently operate under the assumption of unbounded cognitive capacity, failing to account for systemic decision biases in complex institutional environments. This paper examines how cognitive constraints—specifically bounded rationality—interact with formal regulatory architecture to influence market participant compliance and economic efficiency. Utilizing a multi-stage laboratory economic experiment involving 320 participants, we simulated institutional compliance scenarios under varying degrees of choice complexity and structural information nudges. Our findings demonstrate that as institutional rules increase in cognitive complexity, participant error rates rise exponentially, leading to suboptimal resource allocation. However, when choice architectures were restructured to align with cognitive heuristics, compliance rates increased by 38% without increasing legal enforcement expenditures.