CHAPTER FOUR Presentation of Results
6.2 Discussion
This section ties up the objectives with the findings of this study.
The objectives of this study as outlined in Chapter one are:
To explore the problems that women in entrepreneurship face in their day to day activities.
To understand the problems woman entrepreneurs encounter from the time they start the business to when it reaches the greater heights
To explore the areas in which government and the Private sector can intervene to assist woman entrepreneurs with regards to the available problems.
The objectives of the study were answered by unpacking the responses from the interviews with the participants of this study. It shows there are many challenges women encounter as major in their day to day activities, starting from the time they started operating the business. The study made known that the government initiatives that are said to be in existence are not known to the desired community and as a result the community is not benefiting from any of them.
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6.2.1. What are the major challenges that the women in entrepreneurship encounter in their businesses and in the outside world?
From the results of this study it is learned that women tend to start engaging in entrepreneurial activities at any age, from the age of 20 years to beyond 50 years of age. Age is not a prohibiting factor to starting businesses. It is shown that education plays a very crucial part in the life of an entrepreneur, especially higher level education. Moreover, it is evident from this study that work experience has a very positive effect on the success of the business.
Further to the above, the results of this study suggest that the major challenges revolve around access to finance, people management, time management and balancing time between work and home. It can be concluded that challenges that affect women in entrepreneurship prohibit them from moving their businesses to greater heights.
Indeed a lack of finance can become an issue in a business be it start-up capital or long term cash flow. It is important to note, however, that it is concluded from this study that finance is a major challenge for women in entrepreneurship as the majority of women perceive finance as the main hindrance to their businesses success.
It is important to note, however, that although finance is a challenge for women in entrepreneurship with reference to the results of this study, women still make their businesses successful, i.e. they are willing to endure personal hardships to create success.
With reference to human resource management, it is imperative to note that the evidence from this study reveals human resources management as a challenge in a business if it is not mastered. Employees are the ones that can cause a business to fail or can assist it to succeed.
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It is, therefore, concluded from this study that women need exposure to human resources management training since 60% of participants indicated a lack of human resources management skills.
From the results of this study, it is also concluded that time management is also an issue to women as it affects both their family life and business life if it is not well mastered. Women in entrepreneurship have a double job of family responsibilities as well as business responsibilities; therefore, they need to be able to balance the two efficiently to achieve desirable results.
From the results of this study only a few indicated they are managing balancing the two, therefore, it is concluded that women are unable to balance the two without support from their families.
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6.2. 2. Is government doing enough in terms of putting developmental programmes in place in support of the women in entrepreneurship?
From the results of this study it is evident to point out that the government initiatives that are said to be out there to assist women in entrepreneurship are not visible to the desired target Markey, which are not well informed of what there is as assistance from government. It can therefore be concluded that government is not doing enough for women in entrepreneurship.
From the results of this study it is apparent that the government initiatives that exist are known to some people but not known widely. It can be concluded that the government programmes are not made known to those who need them in particular.
It is apparent that even such initiatives by government are not easily obtainable, with suggestions that they end up benefiting a known few. Therefore, it is concluded that the government initiatives are not so helpful to everyone particularly to those in need of them.
6.2.3. To what extent does education assist these women in overcoming the challenges they encounter?
The results of this study show that in terms of educational levels, there is a significant difference made by education, taking into consideration that a person that has had some exposure to education would perform better in the management of a business than a person who has not.
However, that does not close the door for people who have not been to school.
Education is considered crucial; however, a person without education but with ambition and drive can still run a successful business, although emphatically she will experience great challenges. It can be concluded from the results of this study that education is an important element for driving a business to success.
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